A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?
by NexusDarkworldProductions
Summary: An Isekai / Another world story. When Mark is transported into FF9's Gaia in the avatar of his Grey Faction character Dingir, he must complete the 'game' and stop the outside influences. However he is nerfed at level 1, and must first survive for two years until Garnet's 16th Birthday to join Zidane and the rest of our heroes. Disk 0. OC / SI (prequel) Read and review.
1. Concept idea for story

**A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 _:)_

The author who created Dingir, (based upon himself) is thrown into the world of final fantasy 9, by the game's creator, who found Mark's countless self inserts into other books pretentious and punished him accordingly, but also curious to see if he could live up to his alternate book-self, and while given the powers of his Dingir character, his angelic and demonic powers are nerfed heavily, starting as level 1, and must level up to level 100 to unlock all his fictional powers. But can he live long enough? If he doesn't survive until the end of the game, he'll never get home. Begins two years before the plot of the game. Set in Alexandria, he joins the Pluto Knights for work, and waiting for the day the Princess escapes/kidnapped for the game to begin.

 **Character stats** _(at start of story)_

Name: Mark Green

Age: 28

Height: 6ft

Build: Heavy set

Eyes: Grey

Hair: Black

Character class: **Wizard Knight** _(Basically a red mage but able to use high tier magic)_

Level: **1** , 35xp until next level up

HP: **100**

MP: **300**

Weapon: **Bronze sabre** _(the weakest sabre in the game, but sharp and sturdy)_

Armour: **Traveller's cloak** _(a worn but sturdy cloak with a hood used by travellers)_

Accessory: **Isekai ring** _(given to travellers from another world, no effects)_

Skills: **None**

Magic: *** Poison * Regen**

Trance: *** Balmung strike**

Items: **1 potion**

Gil: **0**

 _Let me know what you think of this idea, everyone._


	2. Since when was a Fang a deadly rival?

**A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

:)

 **CHAPTER ONE**

 **Since when was a Fang a deadly rival?**

 _:)_

 _"You think yourself a warrior? Don't delude yourself, you escape reality with your books, now let's see if you can live up to your alternate self. But you must earn your strength, good luck Mark, and welcome to Gaia."_

The voice echoed in his head as the man struggled to his feet, his head swimming, he peered at his surroundings, lots of grass, flat ground, though he dimly noted a castle-like structure many miles in the distance. "What the hell?" he muttered, he's just been in Japan, his Grey Faction series was being made into a game with Squaresoft, and was living there while it was being made, with the intent of being as involved with its development as possible. He had been chatting to the old man in charge about its development, and then he was here, seemingly transported by magic, for now he would explore and hopefully find his way back. Ignoring the words that had greeted him upon awakening here, hoping that there wasn't truth to it.

Taking a few steps forward, he tripped over a leather bag, that definitely hadn't been there before. Spending a few minutes to swear heavily, he opened it to find the following items.

* * *

 _Bronze Sabre_

 _Traveller's cloak_

 _Isekai ring_

 _Potion x 1_

* * *

Above these items were little screens with their names, was he truly in a game? As he handled each one, they appeared on his person, the sword and sheath was suddenly belted to his waist, his shirt and trousers were suddenly enshrouded in the worn brown cloak, and the potion hung from his belt by a quick knot of rope. "This is amazing..." he muttered.

He then noticed that folded at bottom was a scrap of paper. "What's this?" he picked it, it read:

 _Hey Mark,_

 _Figured you'd probably want to play the denial game, so here it is, nice and simple, you need to play through the final fantasy 9 game I created, otherwise you'll be trapped here forever, you're avatar is based on that Dingir character you made, but I'm making you level 1, nerfed you good, so best of luck lasting long enough to actually get involved in the storyline, but if you can live up to your fictional self's potential, we'll meet again. Oh, and watch out for the Fang._

 _Regards,_

 _Hironobu_

 _:)_

"What Fang?" Mark wondered, then stilled as he heard a menacing growl, jumping to his feet, he turned in the direction of the sound, drawing the curved sword in a smooth motion. That reaction saved his life as he was pounced upon by a large, savage looking wolf, knocking him to the ground with ease, but his blade was caught in the mist monster's mouth by chance. It clawed at him repeatedly while it still trying to bite him. He held back an unmanly shriek, as its sharp teeth snapped inches from his face. It had more strength than him, above the Fang were its level and HP, it was at least 4 or 5 times stronger than the current him.

'I won't be killed by a mob character!' he thought with a surprising surge of anger, overcoming his fear, he shoved his sword to the side, twisting the Fang's head while turning with his whole body to throw the Fang off of him, he scrambled to his feet, wincing as several bleeding wounds stung at his hurried movement. The Fang regarded him with caution, circling him, he raised his sabre, turning with it, waiting for its attack.

 ** _"Game Alert:_** _First random counter has begun, current skills available, none."_ whispered a voice in the back of his head.

"Well that's helpful," he muttered sarcastically, not questioning it, he needed to keep focused on this gigantic wolf, Fang, whatever.

 _"Current magic available, Poison, Regen."_ the voice continued. Not this had some potential. One white magic, the other black magic, one healed little by little, and the other killed little by little. Assuming he had enough MP, he could use this combination to kill it, hopefully his sword would be enough to speed things up. The fact that the magic granted to him, loosely imitated Asag's pestilence power and Adel's healing power, was an irony not lost upon him. A nerfed Dingir indeed.

 _"Current HP: 62 /100. Current MP: 300/300."_ the voice supplied helpfully in its robotic whisper.

It was frightening that those few scratches and being tackled had taken nearly half his health, the large pool of mana however meant he could cast both magicks repeatedly. The Fang leapt at him, aiming for his throat, he quickly ducked and rolled under it, slashing its belly as it passed over him, but the bronze sabre only drew a shallow cut.

"Magic it is," he conceded, his basic stats must be far less than his actual body back home. "Cast: Regen," he declared, he felt a brief surge of power, a green glow flickered around him, healing him somewhat, for the next little while, it would continue to do so.

"Cast: Poison!" he yelled, pointing his palm dramatically as the creature approached. But no purple blob shot out at it.

 _" **Game Alert:** Before Level 5, Poison requires physical contact with opponent to activate," _ the voice explained, as he narrowly avoided the Fang's next attack. Another green aura surrounded him for a few seconds, Regen activating again automatically.

"Shit!" Mark turned and ran, he'd able to dodge better if he was already moving quickly, the Fang after a moment's surprise, hurried after him, it tried to take out his legs, but he just barely kept ahead of it, he headed in the direction of the castle, likely Alexandria, but he wouldn't get there anytime soon, but why waste stamina going in another direction? Regen activated again, the wounds finally closed up, and more strength returned to his muscles, but he was still panting heavily, truly this level one thing was a serious nerfing of even his real life skills, let alone the Dingir ones he had created. He sidestepped suddenly, the Fang shot past, but as it did, he brushed its side, "Cast: Poison," a purplish blob appeared on the mist monster's fur, before sinking in. It gave a startled yelp of pain, as it's HP took a small but noticeable decrease.

It growled menacingly at him, "Let's have a chase, you and I," Mark said, grinning, before bolting, this time the Fang immediately followed, but every twenty seconds or so, it let out a whimper, pausing at the sudden pain, as poison took more HP, allowing Mark to narrowly keep ahead of it, though the zigzagging and hiding up a tree towards the end definitely helped. Some ten minutes later, the Fang wobbled and collapsed, unlike in the game however, it didn't just vanish, several items appeared next to it, a blue vial, he recognised as a potion, and a small red feather, that was likely a phoenix down, no coins though, he climbed down the tree, cautiously approaching the Fang. He stabbed it with his sabre, but it didn't react, yep, definitely dead. A screen appeared in front of his eyes.

"EXP gained: 85 points, Level up to Level 3. All stats increased by 2%," he read out, feeling his body growly minutely, but noticeably stronger as he pressed the button to acknowledge it. The screen vanished, he picked up the potion and phoenix down, tucking it into his pocket, as a solo player he couldn't use it, but it would come in handy later. As for the potion, he awkwardly stretched out the short rope that held the first potion to loop and tie both potions to his belt. It was a pity he hadn't been able to grab that small bag, but he didn't fancy running back to find it, he could get another one later.

 _" **Game Alert** : Item discarded: Isekai travellers sack, like the game, allows for infinite storage of items and equipment, while limiting to 99 of each item."_ whispered the voice. _"These kinds of items are very rare within the world itself."_

"Really?" Mark sighed. "Guess I better look for it..." he sighed again, and began to jog in the direction of where he had first appeared. "It's a long enough flipping walk as it is." His feet were hurting, leather work shoes were not made for dashing away from monsters. But he needed every advantage, he had lucked out in a way, as the Fang was a level 5, a single win had levelled him up twice to level 3, but if he hadn't been able to use magic, he would have likely lost and been killed, a wild, four legged feral creature wasn't the best match up for his sword techniques, he knew a lot of them in real life, but when he reached for those skills, his memories were fuzzy, save for the most basic information, part of the nerfing no doubt. This wasn't going to be easy.

Once he finally found the damnable bag, he put the extra potion and phoenix down inside, the bag was tied at the top with a simple knot, and had a long strap that let him hang it from his shoulder to his opposite hip, he could fight and run with this on, hopefully when he accrued lots of items, weapons, and armour, it would hopefully remain this light, come on game logic!

 _:)_

 **CHAPTER END**

 _:)_

 **Character stats** _(End of Chapter 1)_

Name: Mark Green

Age: 28

Height: 6ft

Build: Heavy set

Eyes: Grey

Hair: Black

Character class: **Wizard Knight** _(basically a Red Mage, but not limited to low level magic)_

Level: **3** , 123xp until next level up.

HP: 100 / 102

MP: 257 / 306

Weapon: **Bronze sabre** _(the weakest sabre in the game, but sharp and sturdy)_

Armour: **Traveller's cloak** _(a worn but sturdy cloak with a hood used by travellers)_

Footwear: **Leather shoes** _(simple work shoes)_

Accessory: **Isekai ring** _(given to travellers from another world, no effects)_

Skills: **None**

Magic: *** Poison * Regen**

Trance: *** Balmung strike**

Items: **2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Isekai's travellers sack**

Gil: **0**

 _:)_

Well everyone, I hoped you liked it, in the next chapter, he'll be passing through the gates of Alexandria, but things won't be getting easier for our OC (me) anytime soon. Now as for magic, black magic will be geared towards non elemental and negative status magic, and the white magic geared towards healing and positive status magic, rather than elemental, though with Vivi he could probably do fire sword and all that, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, they won't be meeting for quite a while.

Now if you're curious about the whole Dingir thing, he's an alternate version of Mark that he has put in dozens of different stories, an exorcist wielding the legendary swords; Gram and Balmung, and capable of using both demonic and angelic magic. To see him in action, check out my Grey Faction novels on amazon or Barnes&Noble, or my Dingir / High school DXD crossover on fanfiction, 'Dingir is a teacher at Kuoh?!' Both would nice.

 _:)_

 ** _Next Chapter_**

 _ **Chapter 2:** **If you want to be a hero, better loose that penis**_


	3. If you want to be a hero, better loose t

**Mark's character stats** _(Start of Chapter 2)_

Character class: **Wizard Knight**

Level: **3** , _123xp until next level up_.

HP: 100 / 102

MP: 257 / 306

Strength: 20

Speed: 15

Spirit: 25

Magic: 40

Weapon: **Bronze sabre**

Armour: **Traveller's cloak**

Footwear: **Leather shoes**

Accessory: **Isekai ring**

Skills: **None**

Magic: **Poison, Regen**

Trance: **Balmung strike**

Items: **2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Isekai's travellers sack**

Gil: **0**

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWO**

 **If you want to be a hero, better loose that penis**

* * *

Alexandria's gates loomed above him, two soldiers stood watch on either side, both women he noticed, quickly recalling that Queen Brahne had overhauled the army after her husband's death ten years ago, now the military was now almost exclusively populated with women, and while impressive, it seemed odd to Mark to discount the many men who would have joined the army, thereby limiting the size of her army, as she had empire building desires, even using artificially produced black mages to make up for the shortfall single gender army, well it just seemed silly.

Only Steiner's Pluto knights remained of the male soldiers for Alexandria, but given their incompetence in the game, that might be an insight into what the rest of the original mix gender army had been like ten years ago, not that the game went into it, but that didn't matter, he needed to find out when in the game he was, presumably at the start, but he would need to see the ticket master to confirm that.

Taking a deep breath, he walked through the gates, and was immediately stopped, their swords crossed in front of him, "Halt! state your business!" the one on the right said. He glanced to each of them, seeing their status bars. Emily: level 18, Kelly: level 16. Which meant they could deal enough damage to one hit kill him, so whatever smartass comment naturally desired to shoot from his lips, probably something to do with scaring off tourism, was swiftly shelved.

"Yes ma'am, my business is to stay at an inn for the night, beyond that I haven't considered it," Mark replied, keeping his tone polite.

Kelly regarded the tall bearded man, he looked about thirty years of age, worn travellers cloak, as he held up his hands, she noted a cheap sword belted to his waist, but he didn't look particularly dangerous, and he was polite. "See that you behave yourself while staying here, otherwise you'll have to deal with us."

"Yes ma'am, I'll be sure to behave myself."

They lowered their swords, allowing him to pass. Beyond the gates was the familiar fountain and statue from the game, the buildings of an centuries old style, rather than another world, it was more like going back in time. Save for one thing, that of the many non human residents of Alexandria, who were essentially anamorphic animals, it was one thing to see them in the game, another entirely to see them in real life, but he tried to keep from staring. For now he would head to the ticket master and see when the show was that Garnet would escape with the Tantalus thieves.

 _(Later)_

'Two years...' thought Mark in despair as he sat on a crate within a quiet alley. The wolf-man ticket master, had informed that no such show had been booked for the Princess's birthday.

 _"But they were supposed to be here for the Princess's 16th birthday party!" Mark insisted with irritation._

 _The ticket master looked at him with confusion, "Sir, Princess Garnet is thirteen years old, though it's her birthday in a few days, and yes there is a special show booked for the occasion, but I've not heard of this Tantalus performance troop."_

And so, he had come to a terrifying realisation, he would have to survive two years at least in this world before the events of the game would even begin, he needed to get stronger, but on his own, travelling beyond this city would be dangerous, a single defeat would mean his death. This wasn't a game, no matter how Hironobu had created this world.

Then there was the more pressing matter of making money, he didn't have anyone here to fall back on. The phoenix down was worth enough for nearly two days in a cheap hotel, if he remembered correctly. Without a job or place to stay, getting Gil from monsters as well as selling monster drops was most likely the way to go for the immediate future.

It was beginning to grow dark before he finally calmed himself enough to act, if he could avoid sleeping on the streets, he would. Standing up, he headed down the various interconnected alleyways to a small item store he recalled seeing while exploring, there was much more to the city than what was portrayed in the game, he wouldn't be able to rely on his memories of the game to explore, except in the most general of ways.

He was close to the store, when he heard shattering bottles, and falling objects, grunts, and yells of rowdy sounding men. 'A fight?' he wondered, it wasn't his business, he turned to take a different route. Then he heard a young girl scream, and he ran in the direction, he really hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. Around the next corner, his dread was confirmed, four men were wrestling to hold a young girl down, she couldn't have been more than fifteen, her clothes were torn, and she had a large red mark on her face, one already has his penis out, the kid was clearly terrified.

"Come on sweetie, stop struggling so much, you'll enjoy it."

"Leave me alone!"

"Keep yelling, nobody's gonna hear you."

"Want me to hit you again? Now open those legs already."

Normally Mark would have gone in guns blazing, and plenty of yelling, but this wasn't his old world where he was confident in his strength, he was only level 3 here. above the heads of the men, he read their stats. Jerry, level 6. Dave, level 5. Vick, level 9. and Kenneth, level 8. All of them were stronger than him in terms of level, but none of them were armed, at least that he could see, but he had a sword, and they were focused on trying to rape this girl.

He slowly approached them from behind on silent feet, unsheathing his sword gently as to avoid making the steely hiss of a drawn sword. He held his breath, and without warning swung his sword as hard as he could, slicing off Dave's head with one attack, the recoil was awful. Blood spurted, soaking them all.

* * *

" **Game alert** , 100 EXP gained."

* * *

Before they could even react, he lunged at Jerry, stabbing him through a gap in the ribs, his sabre was a wide blade, he'd likely gotten the lungs and the heart. He yanked his sword out, another dead. Two down. His heart was pounding, adrenaline sharpening his senses and movements, he remembered this feeling. A real fight. A savage grin stretched over his features.

* * *

" **Game alert** , 125 EXP gained. Level up to level 4, all stats receive 3% increase."

* * *

'So that wasn't my imagination, even humans can level me up,' Mark realised.

"Holy shit!" yelled Vick, leaping back, he pulled out a long knife from under his clothing, ignoring the blood and gore.

But Kenneth dropped to the floor, his features terrified. "Oh god, they're dead!" He saw the look on Mark's face, he tried to scramble back, but Mark stabbed downwards, opening up his stomach and piercing several organs. He screamed and grasped in agony at the sword. Mark tried to pull it out, but failed.

Vick was quick to take advantage of that opening, slicing at Mark's throat, who just barely avoided being killed, Mark had swayed back with swift timing, but a thin cut still appeared on his throat, blood dribbling out. Another attack sliced his arm, but Mark booted Vick hard in the stomach, making him stumble back.

Mark ran to the end of the alleyway, grabbing a broken bottle as a weapon. Vick regarded him warily, slowly approaching, Kenneth's screams died down.

* * *

" **Game alert** , 216 EXP gained. Level up to level 5, all stats receive 4% increase."

* * *

'So that other guy died,' Mark realised. He felt his body noticeably strengthened again. He would need it to disarm the last would-be rapist, and while Vick didn't carry himself like a warrior, he used the knife too well to not have at least some experience with such back alley brawls and knife fights. But what could he do? Could he risk using the bottle to deflect the knife and aim for a tackle? 'Wait, level 5...' it occurred to him, the voice he heard had once said that his poison spell required him to be higher level to use the spell like in the game. But first... "Cast: Regen." A green glow surrounded him. His throat wound closed up and vanished, his arm still hurt, but it had stopped bleeding.

"A magic user," growled Vick, pausing, slight hesitation showing, he glanced to his dead friend, yanking the bronze sabre from his stomach, spewing more blood and guts across the cobblestones. He charged!

"Ah shit!" Mark raised his arm, "Cast: Poison!" A purple blob hit Vick, he winced but didn't slow down. He stabbed at him, Mark dived to the side, the knife followed, drawing blood on his shoulder. "Fuck!" he cursed, leaning against the wall.

The next attack came, that should have been the end, but the young girl shoulder charged him from behind with remarkable force, Vick hit the ground hard, before he could do anything, the girl kicked the sword from his grip. Mark grabbed the knife hand, disarming Vick. In his mounted position, Mark had a clear opening at the man's face, he raised the jagged bottle in his other hand and jammed the sharp edge into his throat, blood gushed into his face. Mark stabbed several times more. His near death making him especially savage and cautious. Breathing heavily, he climbed off his last opponent.

"Is he dead?" the girl asked.

"Y-Yeah..." he said between breaths.

"Thank you so much!" she thanked him.

"I-If you hadn't have helped at the end, he would have killed me anyway," Mark replied with a wry grin. "Thanks." He struggled to his feet, another green glow and his wounds stopped bleeding. A few more minutes and the Regen spell would heal the rest of his wounds. "Would you like me to heal that?" he gestured to her face, and ugly mark from where she had been hit earlier, given her ripped up clothing, she likely had other injuries too.

"Please!" she replied.

Pointing his palm at her, he focused his magic on making her the target. "Cast: Regen." A green glow surrounded her. She let out a relieved sigh.

Mark picked up his bronze sabre and re-sheathed it, after a quick wipe to remove the blood. When his adrenaline wore off, he'd likely freak out over just killing four people. But under the circumstances, he wouldn't regret it. Sexual assault was one of the few things that genuinely pissed the world traveller off.

As he turned back to her, his eyes flickered above her head, reading her stats by habit now. Her name was Claire...and she was level 12! She was stronger than him, this petite girl? Now it made more sense why four men were pinning her down, they wouldn't have been able to manage otherwise with the level difference.

Before any other words could pass between them, something grabbed the back of his head and smashed him heavily into the ground, something cracked. He yelled out in pain. His HP dropped to 10. Who the hell had attacked him?

"Claire, are you okay?" a woman's voice demanded. "I was told some men were following you, I came as soon as I could," he grip on his head tightened. He gasped.

"W-Wait Beatrix, he helped me!" Claire said, her tone panicking. Mark's eyes widened, Alexandria's finest warrior? She knew that General, but he had no time to consider it, as he blacked out at that moment. "Look further in the alley, those four attacked me," she worriedly gestured, wishing her older sister wasn't so heavy handed, especially against the man who had saved her. Beatrix would have easily killed them, but she would have been too late to protect her virginity.

"I-I see..." Beatrix replied, loosening her grip, she regarded the man, about thirty, bearded, rough looking, another low life no doubt, he'd probably planned to have his way with her, exploiting the hero moment to manipulate her, a night in a cell would do until she could find out the truth.

 **(CHAPTER END)**

 _Well there you have it, chapter two. I hope you enjoyed it. As this is the 'reality' of Gaia, turn based combat doesn't exist, but fatal injuries unrelated to HP do, such as heart stabbing or beheading, as such it's possible to kill higher level enemies under the right circumstances. Still Mark got lucky there, being alive that is, not a level 99 warrior one hitting him for stopping a rape with good old violence, not that she knew at the time, but lucky as the near-rape victim was there to help. Great job Claire, and Mark got two level ups out of it, still below the average level of a full grown adult in this world, but then it doesn't make them fighters. A hard day's work can gather meagre EXP, most civilians level up in this fashion._

 _Not sure when the next chapter will be out as I have my own novels to write outside of fanfiction, but I'll try to be as quick as I can._

 **Next Chapter: Scarcity of monster drops**

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _(End of Chapter 2)_

Character class: **Wizard Knight**

Level: **5** , 1 _86xp until next level up_.

HP: 10 / 108

MP: 229 / 315

Strength: 25

Speed: 18

Spirit: 27

Magic: 44

Weapon: **Bronze sabre**

Armour: **Traveller's cloak**

Footwear: **Leather shoes**

Accessory: **Isekai ring**

Skills: **None**

Magic: **Poison, Regen**

Trance: **Balmung strike**

Items: **2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Isekai's travellers sack**

Gil: **0**


	4. Scarcity of monster drops

**Mark's character stats** _(start of chapter 3)_

Character class: **Wizard Knight**

Level: **5** , 1 _86xp until next level up_.

HP: 50 / 108

MP: 315 / 315

Strength: 25

Speed: 18

Spirit: 27

Magic: 44

Weapon:

Armour:

Footwear: **Leather shoes**

Accessory:

Skills: **None**

Magic: **Poison, Regen**

Trance: **Balmung strike**

Items:

Gil: **0**

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER THREE**

 **Scarcity of monster drops**

* * *

Mark awoke in a stone cell, it was cold, damp, and rather unpleasant. "Damn it, Beatrix..." he muttered, slowly rising, his head was pounding, his HP had recovered slightly, but it was still pretty low. His MP had recovered to full though. As his eyes focused, a screen popped up, showing his level ups and status increase like after his battle with the Fang, thankfully it had not appeared before his eyes with each kill, whatever this system was, it had a practicality to it. He pressed the confirm button, it vanished, but another screen appeared in its place.

* * *

 _Congratulations, you have reached level 5, you are now able to select one white magic and one black magic skill that confirms to your character's alignment and level. Please select confirm to see options._

* * *

"Wait...I thought we got skills and magic from our equipment..." Mark mused, how much had Hironobu changed the game system when he sent him to this world?

" **Game Alert:** While this is true for the game, your character class does not exist, as such, adjustments needed to be made. A wizard knight has a very limited skill set, unable to use elemental magic or auto-magic. Every five levels, you will gain a new black and white spell until you have unlocked all wizard knight options. Some equipment can teach you additional spells, but most will be skills relating to the knight class, a green light next to item's screen name will confirm what is learnable."

"Hmm...Learning cure would be great, I wonder how much a silk shirt goes for?" he mused, tapping the screen. Two smaller ones replaced it, one for each main magic type.

* * *

 **Black Magic** _(please select one of the following)_

 *** Sleep**

 _Puts single/multiple targets to sleep for five minutes or less._

 *** Slow**

 _Slows down target's movements and reactions for battle._

 *** Stop**

 _Stops targets from taking any action for one minute or less._

* * *

 **White Magic** _(please select one of the following)_

 *** Scan**

 _Scan enemy to determine HP, MP, and weaknesses._

 *** Panacea**

 _Removes Venom and Poison._

 *** Stona**

 _Removes Petrify and Gradual Petrify._

* * *

"All low level skills, but they'll definitely prove useful." For black magic in particular it was a difficult choice, as it would be a major change to his current fighting method within the world, being able to slow an enemy would be great, but if the difference in level was too great, he would still be killed, stop was a good choice, but without turn based combat, it had a time limiter to it, and not a long one. "Sleep lasts longer, so I can use it to flee as well as kill while their down, and I can sneak about with it too." He could learn the others once he levelled up some more anyway.

Next there was the white magic, scan could go on the back burner, he could see names and levels already, and given that his only offensive spell used poison, it was better to learn Panacea and protect himself, for all he knew he could accidentally poison himself, and he wouldn't have to waste Gil early on with antidotes if he learnt it.

He still had no Gil, he probably should have checked those four dead guys, but he never got the chance before being KO'd. Now had he been properly arrested and charged, or was he being held until all the facts were confirmed? At least he saved on a hotel or inn for the night.

Now back to the spells. He pressed Sleep and Panacea.

" **Game Alert:** You have learnt Sleep and Panacea." All the game menus vanished.

Getting up, Mark inspected the cell, about twelve feet by eight feet. His cloak, bag, and weapons had been taken, assuming they released him, they'd hopefully give them back. There was no beds or seats, so he leaned against the wall in a slouch, and waited.

 _(Three hours later...)_

"Your name?" asked a voice, startling him, he looked up, it was Steiner of all people, accompanied by two of his Pluto Knights, both were level 6, with Steiner being level 20. That made sense, how could a long serving knight be a level 1, only in a game, also his iron armour was in pristine condition, the rusty joke wouldn't be seeing much use here.

"Mark," he replied.

"Well Mark," said Steiner, "thanks to the testimony of Private Claire, you won't be charged for murder, however we will be taking a statement from you regarding the events of the previous night. Follow me." He turned to leave, expecting compliance, Steiner spoke with a surprising soft yet deep voice, perhaps it was because unlike a certain thief, Mark had yet to provoke him into shouting.

"Of course," he followed a short distance behind, with the two Pluto Knights pulling up the rear. He was taken to an interrogation room, though it was more like the variety one would see on TV, a table with a chair on either side, the stone block rim dimly lit by a lantern. Steiner gestured for him to take a seat, he did so.

"Alright," Steiner pulled out a pen and paper, "First, your full name, city of origin, and occupation."

'Oh crap!' thought Mark, though he kept it from showing on his face, time for some quick thinking, he was a city boy and a writer, now what equivalents existed here that wouldn't worry the Alexandrian's. "My full name is Mark Green, I'm from Treno originally, though I travel around a lot, it's been a while since I've been back." he replied. "As for occupation, back in Treno I was a scribe, but after losing that job, I starting travelling from place to place, selling items I managed to bulk purchase cheap."

Steiner jotted it down, "you didn't have many items in your sack, though it was the rare storage type some merchants use." he noted. "Did something happen?"

"I was robbed about a week ago on the way here, took all my goods and Gil, I was planning to sell monster drops for a little while to get myself restarted again, but on my first night here, I stumbled across the incident with that young girl, and you know the rest."

"Only in general terms, continue."

"I was heading to an item store to sell the phoenix down, which would have covered at least a night's stay at a local inn, when I heard drunken yelling and things being knocked over, I planned to take an alternate route, but then I heard a girl scream, and expecting the worst, I ran in the direction of the scream, and when I got there, I saw four men pinning a young girl to the ground, one already had his dick out, so it was obvious that they were going to rape her, so I stopped them."

"By killing them?" Steiner prompted.

"Yeah," admitted Mark, with a sour glance. "I know a fair bit about fighting, but I'm not that experienced, if I didn't go for a one hit kill when they were focused on her, then they'd easily have taken me down and carried on attacking that girl without anyone to stop them. I've never killed someone before, but I don't regret it. I hate rapists."

"Claire mentioned you used the spell Poison on the last attacker, do you have some skill with magic?" Steiner asked, magic was very rare among humans, even he could only use sword arts magic, which was closer to a skill than true magic.

"Just a few status magicks that I learned as a kid, I'm not very good at it, and except for a few mist monsters, I've never really had a proper fight before tonight," Mark replied.

"Hmm...Very well." Steiner jotted down a few notes. "We'll have your belongings returned to you soon, however we will be keeping an eye on you, it is the job of us knights to protect this city."

"I understand," he replied, inwardly snorting, as if he could ignore something like that, he wasn't a hero, but not some low life that would ignore someone in such a situation, nerfed or not.

"Should you have difficulty finding work, there are always positions in the Pluto Knights, should you wish to try out," Steiner informed him as he rose to leave. "We don't have many mist monsters here for you to collect drops to sell on, but best of luck."

The door closed shut behind him.

'Not many mist monsters, but the game was full of them...Oh!' A flash of understanding. 'There wouldn't be random encounters, so I have to go to a place full of mist monsters...Like the Evil Forest.' That place would be suicide for him if he tried to solo it before at least level 10, then Mark recalled that he had walked for hours to get to the city, only encountering a single Fang, the soldiers likely handling mist monsters close to the city itself. That would require a lot of walking to find mist monsters to fight, and no guarantee of finding them, he would need to make a few hundred Gil a day just to get by.

Steiner's offer was tempting, but living as a soldier under Queen Brahne's rule did not appeal to him, but it might very well be how he would end up. But first he had to try the monster drop route, it offered the best chance of levelling up before the events of the game began, and if Steiner was a level twenty now, what would the others be like? Level 10 at the absolute very least.

Becoming OP before the start of the game's events seemed unlikely now, but he had to do the best he could over the next two years for sake of getting home to enjoy the rewards of a lifetime effort in becoming a famous author, and pound in the face of the one who sent him here. Being in a fantasy world might end up being awesome, but it hadn't been his choice, and finally just when he had started to actually enjoy being himself, he had been removed from his rewards and lifestyle. Hironobu was going to get a level 100 uppercut when this was all over and done.

* * *

 **(CHAPTER END)**

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **Too many Goblins!**_

* * *

 _Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter and the somewhat different route of a self insert story. By my estimates, my real life strength as a martial arts expert would put me in the mid-thirties in level by Final Fantasy terms, and with even my real life strength and skills being nerfed, let alone the avatar of Dingir which would easily smash any level 100 concept, as the fictional Dingir within the Grey Faction novels and other series can easily kill demons and has battled Primordials and Gods as equals, you can see why Mark (me) would be cautious and less confident as even the memories of his many martial arts have been hampered by a nerfing fog. But don't worry, little by little, it will be lifted._

 _Now for a little explanation on the two origins behind Mark's Magic, Asag and Adel._

 _Dingir/Mark is distantly related to the Seraphim Adel, making him a Nephilim, though many times removed, none the less, after being attacked by demons, he awakened to its purifying power, allowing him to destroy demons with physical contact, like being permanently dunked in holy water, later on he could channel this power through weapons, make holy water for others to use, and created a special 'Seraphim mode' where he burns through his stamina and health to greatly strengthen his power to destroy more powerful demons. This you can see on another of my fanfiction stories, Dingir vs. Asag, which shows one of several battles they had before he stole some of the ancient devil's power. Though it's actually a scene from my book, Grey Faction 2: Mistaken Apostles._

 _Now for Asag, he is based off an ancient Sumerian demon, one powerful enough to battle the Gods of that period's pantheon, twenty feet tall, four horns, a giant tongue, and scaled skin with rotting worms living inside, Asag is a terrifying creature, one of the oldest recorded Devils, this monster had the power to rot anything to nothingness, capable of destroying nations, this devil was more feared for its appetite than its power as it raped and tortured many women to slake its unspeakable lust. It hated Dingir in particular as he has prevented it from doing so each time Asag was summoned in the modern world._

 _Mark's magic in the game will be moves that most closely conform to the skill sets of these two, corruption and salvation, which is why non-elemental, and status magic will be a big part of what Mark will learn later on._

* * *

 _Also FYI, the Gil conversion rate goes as follows, using the cost of a cheap room at an Alexandrian inn and occasional mentions in the game to food costs as it's basis._

 _One night, 100 Gil._

 _A basic hotel in the real world, one night, £50._

 _Which would mean there is roughly 50p to every 1 Gil._

 _As many vendor snacks cost around 5 to 10 Gil, this more or less works out._

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _(start of chapter 3)_

Character class: **Wizard Knight**

Level: **5** , 1 _86xp until next level up_.

HP: 80 / 108

MP: 315 / 315

Strength: 25

Speed: 18

Spirit: 27

Magic: 44

Weapon:

Armour:

Footwear: **Leather shoes**

Accessory:

Skills: **None**

Magic: **Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea**

Trance: **Balmung strike**

Items:

Gil: **0**

* * *

 **(Mark is wearing a black shirt and black trousers beneath his travellers cloak btw.)**


	5. Memories of a fictional life

**A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3.5**

 **Memories of a Fictional life**

* * *

The Alexandrians were taking their sweet time releasing him, so Mark decided to take a nap to pass the time, slumping over the table in the interrogation room, his eyes slowly closing, he drifted off to sleep.

 _ **(Dream Sequence)**_

 _'She's following me,' Mark noted as he dashed through the Downs under the moonlight. He could feel demonic magic in the air, he didn't have time to stop her, he could only hope he and John could defeat it before she caught up, doubtful, the demon this cult was trying to summon was truly strong, heck, it might be too much for them, her powers would be helpful in holding the creature off while they sealed it again, but Mark truly didn't want to explain it to her, his duty and curse, because it would get back to Andrew, and he would learn the truth of why the Seraphim had chosen him._

 _Drawing close to the scene, Mark leapt through the undergrowth, just in time to see an enormous demonic hand burst through the centre of the summoning circle._

 _Mark leapt into the scene, he briefly glanced at John, who was being restrained by several cultists, he wasn't a fighter though, his knowledge of magic and the occult allowed him to produce many means to combat demons, but he was a support and supply guy in most instances._

 _Ignoring that, Mark focused on the enormous demonic hand emerging from the summoning circle. reaching for one of his swords, he drew it, and charged towards it. Those occultists not powering the spell lunged at him, but he effortlessly slipped around them, slamming each of them in the back of the neck with the blunt edge of the sword. They dropped._

 _Jumping through the summoning circle, he sliced at the hand which was large than himself, then a shockwave of dark energy as the demonic arm repelled Mark with a contemptuous fist, sending him sprawling._

 _"YOU AGAIN, DINGIR!"_ _bellowed a distorted voice as the summoning circle exploded outwards incinerating the cultists. Mark and John were caught in the explosion as well. A white aura surrounded Mark, protecting him, as for John, the blue tattoos on his body glowed like neon lights and a dome of energy appeared preventing from being roasted by the demon's power. However the force of the explosion threw them both clear of the summoning circle. Reina who caught up, observed from a distance, enhancing her sight with aura._

 _"Great...they really summoned Asag," muttered Mark, scrambling to his feet, holding his sword steady as the smoke and flames began to clear. John joined him at his side, the magical tattoos on his body glowing ever brighter. "Mind telling me how they summoned him?" Glancing in John's direction. "They would need the_ _Pestilencia Tabes_ _Grimoire and we destroyed it." Mark's eyes narrowed, accusing._

 _The occult shop owner winced at the look, replying, "I sold a copy I made of it, those things sell for a fortune, and normally it would be useless, but they added demonic energy to it, creating a sufficient copy for a summoning to work."_

 _"A demonic Contractor-Mage or something?" Mark asked._

 _John gave him a surprised look, "Oh so you know about them then, don't think I've ever mentioned them though."_

 _"I'm training one, and my old friend Andrew is one as well." Mark replied._

 _"I thought he was dead?" Jon asked._

 _"Adel turned him into a Seraphim Contractor and the bastard didn't come back to contradict the KIA." Mark answered._

 _"Well fuck."_

 _"Yep."_

 _The ground beneath them began to shake and the last of the smoke and flame was dispersed as the shadowy monster let loose a thunderous roar. Both faced the demon, ready to battle. John's tattoos were filled with magical seals that protected him from demons as well as hurt them, but he lacked the combat skills to truly use them, Mark would be the finisher for this._

 _Asag was nearly twenty feet tall, its skin was black, warped, filled with wriggling worms and tar, its body shape was vaguely human, but clawed and fanged, it had four long horns atop his head, its face scaled and ghoulish, a long black tongue slithering from its dark maw. A foul smell emanated from Asag, if not for their respective protection, the two would already be dying from the poison within it._

 _Asag's all-white eyes roamed its surroundings, spotting Mark and John, it rose to its full height, massive bat-like wings unfurling behind it. Asag grinned, its jagged smile stretching horribly to reveal many knife-like teeth. The air was thick with its demonic power, the plant life at Asag's feet began to rot and die, it spread out, the green becoming brown across the surrounding countryside._

 _"TO THINK YOU WOULD BE HERE AT MY AWAKENING, IT SEEMS FATE HAS ABANDONED YOU BOTH, DINGIR, NERGAL,"_ _announced Asag, its voice twisted and echoing. Raising a clawed arm, black energy gathered its palm and burst forth towards them._

 _Mark leapt forward, swinging his sword to intercept it,_ _"Sanctitudo..."_ _He whispered, calling upon the angelic blessing Adel had given him through his bloodline, the protection of Heaven, the edge of his sword glowed white with angelic energy, his sword swing meeting with the demonic attack, a shockwave in mid air at the collision, his blade blessed and destroyed Asag's attack, but its force sent Mark flying back, he flipped with the momentum and was able to land, he briefly spotted John sneaking into the now brown undergrowth, probably to grab whatever supplies he had brought from his store._

 _Reaching into one of his pouches, he pulled out a bottle of holy water with blessed silver shavings in it. Biting off the cork, he hurled it at Asag, as the demon charged, Asag screamed as the bottle shattered, the holy water burning its skin._

 _"DIE DINGIR!"_

 _But Asag was strong, it ignored the pain, throwing a giant fist with a huge upward motion, the air rippling from the force, Mark barely evaded being hit, using the side of his blade to guard as the attack shot past him, sparks flew as demonic flesh met steel._

 _Raising his arms for a downward slash to sever the demon's arm, Asag elbowed Mark first with tonnes of force, Mark's feet lifted off the ground as it hit him, eyes widening in shock as his ribcage cracked, a searing of agony, spitting blood, he hit the ground hard, reacting on instinct he rolled to the side, barely avoiding Asag as he stamped the ground where he had been moments ago, it cracked under Asag's strength. Then the earth itself rotted, turning to sludge, it began to spread._

 _"Omni Malo Purget..."_ _Mark muttered, punching his fist into the rotting earth, a pulse of light and the corruption stopped._

 _"DINGIR, YOU SHOULDN'T STAND IN THE WAY OF MY PURPOSE, YOU ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH,"_ _chided Asag mockingly, kicking Mark as he struggled to his feet, Mark smashed through one of the dying trees, he definitely felt bones break, vomited blood as he fell, reaching into another pouch from his belt, he hurled several metal balls at Asag, which exploded on contact, piercing the demon with shards of blessed silver, and power of good old fashioned explosives._

 _John appeared behind Asag at the moment of the explosion, the demon's body shielding him from the blast, and as Asag shrieked while the explosion buried the silver deep within the demon's body, in that moment, magic tattoos glowing bright, John reared back his fist and jammed it deep into the demon's torso, a magic circle appearing around the wound, a purification one, which if left on the demon long enough would destroy it._

 _"HOW DARE YOU?!"_

 _Asag took to the air with a few beats of its gigantic black wings, spinning mid air, he loosened John from his back and tried to crush the man with his great grip. John's tattoos emitted holy light in response to the physical contact, dissolving the demon's hand, John hit the ground hard, coated in the hands remains which evaporated soon after. The magic circle he had placed on Asag had burned a large hole in its chest._

 _Asag quivered, barely able to stand, using its wings like crutches, Mark came out charging at this moment, holding two swords, in one hand a katana, and the other was an custom blade, an oversized knife with a serrated edge, dodging Asag's attacks, he drove both into the demon's chest, each weapon blessed to harm demonic beings. Asag shrieked, releasing a blast of demonic energy in all directions, Adel's blessing and the magic tattoos kept them from being killed but the kinetic energy sent them sprawling._

 _Asag kept strengthening its demonic aura, seeming to ignore its horrific injuries, refusing to return to hell and accept its defeat._

 _"Think you can return him to hell again?" Mark hissed to John, as he stumbled to his feet, his swords now destroyed by the demonic energy, unable to stand up to the corruption._

 _"Not while he's emitting all that power," answered John, "Mark...I need you to use Adel's power to weaken it."_

 _Mark glared at him, "You know what using it does to my body if I use it for more than a moment."_

 _"I'm sorry."_

 _"Fine," Mark approached Asag, angelic power surrounding him, talking the shape of six wings of light, the symbol of the Seraphim, Asag immediately noticed the change in his opponent, the stench of Adel's heavenly power. As Mark stood before the demon, Asag's body began to shrink, its injuries healing by condensing its mass, now Asag and Mark stood eye to eye._

 _Asag bared his fangs, his powerful aura smashing against Mark, who stood unflinchingly under the demons wrath. Its long tongue stretched out, tasting the air, it sneered,_ _"YOUR BORROWED POWER WON'T BE ENOUGH."_

 _"It worked once before Asag, no reason why it wouldn't work again, you're going back to hell." Mark replied, in this form he could sense everything around him, John was circling them at a distance, placing magic circles in preparation to banish the demon. Good, using the blessing of Adel allowed him to borrow the angels powers at the cost of his health._

 _"I'M STRONGER NOW, DINGIR."_ _Asag stated, his power condensed into this small form._

 _"I know," replied Mark quietly. There was a pause, then the two collided in sudden burst of destructive power, the air detonating around them with punch, kick, bite and slash, their angelic and demonic energy wildly surging around them as the two opposing forces tried to kill the other._

 _John carefully continued making the extremely complicated magic circle to banish Asag, trying to ignore the battle nearby, 'Just hang on Mark, just a few more minutes.'_

 _"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!"_ _laughed Asag, as it smashed his fist into Mark's torso, one of the seraphim wings blocked it, but Asag shot demonic energy out like a beam from its fist, it pierced the wing, leaving a small, smouldering hole in Mark's stomach. He screamed in agony, but did not fall, Adel's power not allowing him too, his sixth wing dissolved, now he was down to five._

 _"In...nomine Adel...Ad...Infernum!"_ _whispered Mark, his eyes unfocused, blood cascading from his mouth as he spoke. Two of the wings dissolved into particles of light, which surrounded the demon, piercing its body all over, Asag slumped forward, his skin writhing, worms, black sludge and poison bursting from the wounds instead of blood._

 _"HEH...NOT BAD DINGIR,"_ _hissed Asag, slowly standing, with a sudden bellow of demonic fury, his own demonic power dispelled the angelic power of Mark's two winged attack._ _"BUT MY POWER IS GREATER."_

 _Though barely conscious, his body supported by Adel's blessing, Mark was able to still mutter, "Well fuck..."_

 _Asag gathered a huge amount of demonic power into a fiery orb, and destroyed another of the Seraphim's wings faster than Mark could react. Now he was down to two wings._

 _Seeing Mark begin to collapse, Asag grinned, fingers extended like knives, he lunged at Mark, only for the demon's arm to be caught in a sphere of hell fire, and a shout from nearby, "Leave Sensei alone!"_

 _Reina appeared in a burst of aura boosted speed. She grabbed Mark and dragged him to safety, Asag regarded her and her heat attack, he could sense the demonic energy in it, and another demon in her soul, how interesting. He flexed his arm and the heat sphere shattered, its aura dispelled. Though her powers had burned him it had been minimal. He was a demon too, after all._

 _SO...A CONTRACTOR MAGE?"_ _mused Asag, eyeing up the young woman, it had been a while since he had slaked his lust on a living human, this summoning wouldn't be a complete waste of his effort and pain after all._

 _"Sensei, are you okay?" asked Reina, gently shaking Mark, she had watched the battle, it seemed there was far more to magic, angels, and demons than she knew from being in a contract with Incubo and working with Grey Faction, but those were questions for after the battle._

 _"...I'll live," he whispered, regarding his remaining two angel wings, their light was flickering like static, their power all but spent. "Reina, you have to run, I can't move right now, a demonic mage cannot beat a true demon, a devil, particularly for you who uses heat, and I can't protect you." It hurt Mark to admit it, but his body was at its limit, angelic power was not meant for human who was neither in a contract or a Grimoire mage._

 _"I'm not leaving you here, your friend is preparing something right?" she whispered, "I will hold him off until then."_

 _"No Reina, you can't face Asag." Mark replied, his eyes beginning to close, "Incubo, please tell her..." Mark passed out. His blood soaking Reina's clothing in the brief time she's held him._

 _'So he could sense me after all, and to even know my name,'_ _spoke Incubo, this was not the time for awe or questions however, Mark was right, Reina couldn't win. A true demon was largely immune to the powers of a demon Contractor, only those whose powers were aligned to the light could hope to wound them. Neither was she protected from the poison that Asag constantly emitted from his body, even now she had grown pale._

 _Deep within her mindscape, Incubo regarded the egg-like structure imbedded in his body, it hosted the form he would one day take, as well as what angelic power he had been able to recover so far. He hesitated, he could shield her with this for a time, but then he would have to start all over again to rebirth himself as an angel and escape this demonic form, could he really do that? He still might be able to control Reina's mind, force her to flee. Asag couldn't stay here indefinitely, he would run out of magic keeping him in this world eventually._

 _"I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!" Reina's subconscious shouted out, her aura building, ready to fight._

 _Incubo sighed, he couldn't do this, could he?_ _"Reina, if you won't listen, then I'll just have to help you, follow my instructions if you want to live long enough to save your sensei and the tattooed stranger."_

 _'You got it!' Reina replied mentally. Suddenly she felt an unfamiliar surge of power, it was gentle and pure, a soft golden glow surrounded her. 'What's this?'_

 _"The power I gathered to retake my life as an angel, I'm using it to protect you from Asag's power of corruption, he can rot and destroy anything that he touches, only the power of the divine and holy can withstand it, this power is a short term shield, now hit him with everything you've got while it lasts."_

 _"T-Thank you Incubo, I know what this power means to you."_

 _"Don't die, and I won't regret it,"_ _Incubo replied._

 _Reina strode towards Asag, she spotted John working in the distance with her boosted sight, whatever he was doing, she hoped it would work. Mark seemed to trust him at least._

 _"A CLEVER TRICK WOMAN, BUT IT WON'T LAST AGAINST THE MIGHT OF ASAG!"_ _declared Asag as Reina slowly approached, her aura emitted both angelic and demonic properties. It seemed he would have to play with her first to get what he wanted._

 _Reina nearly gagged at the smell of death and rot that originated from the demon, its face was truly hideous, disfigured, monstrous, a long black tongue slithered towards her. She gathered her aura, boosting her strength, speed, reactions, sight, and everything else. "We'll see won't we?"_

 _Reina suddenly dodged to the side, even before she could see Asag's first attack, her instincts reacted to the danger and the demon's deadly intent. Where she once stood was Asag's clawed hand, Asag smiled,_ _"YOU MOVE LIKE DINGIR DOES."_

 _'Dingir?' thought Reina, he seemed to be referring to Mark, but she had never heard that word before, she could feel Incubo's shock at the word through their mental link. But that didn't matter._

 _"ARE YOU ONE OF HIS? ALL THE BETTER, LITTLE DEMON."_

 _Aura flaring she engulfed them both and their surroundings, just shy of Mark and the ring of magic circles that John was making. The air around them was tinted like blood. "Burn!" she hissed, eyes glowing red, and pain erupted throughout Asag's body as his flesh began to shudder, warp and burn._

 _He reared back from her in surprise, this one had power, but demonic power wouldn't stop him, gathering his own demonic power he pushed back at Reina's heat, if it couldn't reach past his skin then her powers meant nothing. He could heal faster than she could wound him._

 _Reina continued strengthening her heat, watching the demon before her, Asag no longer seemed to be in pain, he straightened his posture, engulfed in flames as he burnt. He vanished as he took a step, Reina's body span on instinct as she felt a powerful strike hit her side, it only grazed her as a result, but Reina felt bones creak, and she shrieked as Asag's seared flesh burnt into her. Normally she was safe from her own powers, but not in this instance it seemed._

 _Reina hit the ground hard, another attack hit her, she turned into it, going with the flow, and threw Asag with aura boosted strength. She glanced to Mark outside her field of heat, he still wasn't moving, he had lost a lot of blood, by the looks of it. She had to do this!_

 _The next few minutes were a blur of attacks, counters, and searing pain, she used everything Mark had taught her, while Incubo issued rapid fire instructions, without them both, and her opponents apparent resistance to her heat powers, she knew she would already be dead. She kept burning Asag, using the brief opening it created to dodge and run, but he was relentless._

 _It continued on like that, oddly Asag didn't attack her with pure demonic energy like he had done to wound Mark, what she didn't notice with the demon's relentless attacks, that he was strengthening the poison and rot emitted from his body instead, it filled the air, constantly attacking the angelic power Incubo had cloaked Reina in, and then it disappeared._

 _'Reina, run!'_ _shouted Incubo, realising what Asag had done. A sudden choking pain in her chest, the world span, and Reina hit the ground._

 _"What...Happened?" she murmured._

 _Incubo appeared in front of her in spirit form, emitting what meagre power remained in himself as a warning to the approaching demon, still coated in flames as he burned, unconcerned by the damage. A horrific sight._

 _"You will withdraw Asag-Nak!"_ _Incubo demanded._

 _Asag paused, head titled to the side, a blast of demonic power blasted away the last of Reina's heat, in seconds the damage healed away, but smoke billowed from his form. Asag peered in interest at the flicker that Incubo was, now able to see the other demon clearly. He smiled, fangs flashing,_ _"INCUBO-NOK, TO SEE YOU AS A FRAGILE SHADE IS MOST AMUSING, SO YOU ARE THE ONE WHO GAVE POWER TO THAT GIRL"_

 _"_ _Indeed."_ _Replied Incubo, he could faintly sense that the tattooed one was almost finished with his banishment spell, every minute, heck, every second that he could stall the ancient Sumerian demon mattered._ _"I ask as a fellow devil, that you cease battle here."_

 _"YOU'VE CHANGED INCUBO, WHY PROTECT A HUMAN? THEY EXIST TO SATE OUR INSTINCTS FOR VIOLENCE AND LUST,"_ _stated Asag, puzzled by the actions of his fellow devil._ _"LAST TIME I WAS SUMMONED, THOSE EXORCISTS SEALED ME BEFORE I COULD ENTERTAIN MYSELF, YOUR CONTRACTOR WILL DO FOR NOW."_

 _Incubo felt a chill, no human would survive Asag's attention, nor would he allow it._ _"You will not!"_

 _"HOW WILL YOU STOP ME?"_ _laughed Asag, lunging for Reina, who was struggling to rise._ _"I WILL RAPE THIS WOMAN, THEN TORTURE THE OTHERS TILL THEY DIE!"_

 _Reina's aura changed at the demon's words, recalling her former trauma with the Oyabun, it turned blue, swirling around her, she raised her head, meeting Asag's gaze as he smashed through Incubo's spirit form, her eyes glowed blue, hand raised, she yelled an order, "STOP!" Her tone absolute, her power reacting to fear, anger, and the desire to end this. For the first time Reina's powers acted as how Alex had theorised was possible. Instead of using her aura to create a field of effect which made all cells vibrate to produce extreme heat, she which did the opposite, stopping every cell in his body from vibrating, his skin and the air around him froze, halting his movements, he screeched in genuine pain as he was frozen far deeper into his body than the heat had reached._

 _"I-I did it?" Reina muttered in shock, staring at her palms as the blue aura returned to its usual red, and then disappeared. 'What was that just now?'_

 _The ground beneath them then began to glow, intricate patterns and symbols stretched out under the demon and all around them, emitting a powerful magic._

 _"Well done Miss," said John appearing behind Reina, his tattoos glowing and moving as he continued with the magic seal. She glanced to him, a breathed a sigh of relief, only to cough blood, John rushed to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder, his tattoos stretched out onto her skin, and through that he used purifying magic, black smoke emitted from her pores as he forced the poison out that Asag released from his body. He was careful to not purify Incubo or the aura in her body, the little demon had done well for his contractor._

 _"Thank you." She whispered as she felt the poison leave her body, her strength returning. John smiled, ruffling her hair like a child. He let go of her and the tattoos retreated to his own skin. The magic circle he had made, which was made from hundreds of complimenting seals and spells began to rotate and shrink, its glow becoming stronger._

 _"Thank you for buying us time, normally for a high level devil of the ancient world, Mark and I would have prepared all this ahead of time, but we were unlucky, with this impromptu summoning, we had to rely on you."_

 _"Is Mark okay?" Reina asked in sudden realisation._

 _"Of course he's not!" John replied, "But he won't die, once Asag's back in hell, I'll sort him out."_

 _Asag was frozen in place, surrounded in holy energy as the banishment circle shrunk around him, but then began to move, the ice started cracking, his skin tearing apart, but regenerating faster than the damage, Asag tore his upper body from Reina's last attack, his legs still bound in ice however,_ _"I WON'T GO BACK YET!"_ _Asag bellowed, he quickly gathered demonic energy to shoot from his hands, the same attack that had struck down Mark._

 _"We gotta run!" shouted John, moving to get Reina to safety._

 _Reina felt so heavy, 'I must have used too much aura to freeze him,' she realised._

 _"YOU WON'T ESCAPE!"_ _declared Asag gleefully, seeing their fear._

 _"They will." stated a voice, cold as the ice that held the demon. Two swords pierced Asag from behind, one through the head, another through the heart, both glowing with holy light._

 _Mark had returned to the battle, his eyes were weary, his clothing soaked in his own blood, but still two wings of light remained, he could still purify._ _"Sanctitudo, Omni Malo Purget!"_ _He chanted, the two swords began to shine blindingly with light, funnelling the last of the wings power into his swords, Asag's flesh bubbled and melted from the holy energy._

 _"NO, NOT AGAIN!"_ _Asag cried out, realising he had been bested, he wanted to kill, rape, and pillage on Earth again, it had been too long since he could escape the boredom of the fiery pits. Weakened, he finally slumped forward in defeat, Mark stumbled back as John's banishment circle activated in full, now surrounding only Asag, the glowing writing stretched up over him like webbing, he let loose a bellow of purest rage, and disappeared in a flash of light and hell fire._

 _It was done. Asag was defeated._

 _Mark's swords had dissolved from the clash of angelic and demonic power, only the hilts remained in his grip. "Are you and Reina okay?" he asked, slowly walking over to them, his gait swaying, stumbling with each step._

 _"Yeah, just about, you?" asked John._

 _"I'm going to need more blood, and a lot of stitches...but I think I'll be...okay," Mark promptly passed out, landing headfirst into the dirt._

 _ **(Dream end)**_

Mark awoke with a start, knocking the chair to the ground with a clatter as he stood. 'What the hell? That was way too real!' He knew this battle, he had written it himself for Grey Faction: Mistaken Apostles. But the realism had been too great, like a memory recalled with vivid clarity. The other him, Dingir, what had Hironobu done? Was he reliving the memories of his fictional self? The letter had referred to him using a nerfed Dingir avatar rather than his own body.

A sudden chill, Dingir had frequent nightmares in the stories about his time in Hell, along with traumatic battles against strong Devils like Asag and Aka Manah, these had acted in part as a driving force to kill more demons. Would he have to deal with those memories, as some were truly horrific.

His thoughts needed to be set aside as an Alexandrian guard entered, kicking it the door open, he glanced to the status bar above her head, her name was Fran as she was a level 13. She carried his confiscated items and equipment, she dumped it all on the table. "Here," she said. "Once, you've checked through it, I'll be escorting you out of the castle."

"Much obliged," said Mark, checking through it, everything was there. He donned his cloak, tied his sword to his belt, and slung on his traveller's sack across his back. "W-Wait, we're in the castle?" He hadn't expected that, but with all the stone work, they had to be really, was it because their general had been involved? Or was the castle so vast in real life that it could house a prison as well and still be safe for the Royalty? It was likely. Brahne had ordered torture and executions later in the game.

"That's right, come on let's go, you've been cleared, and I've got guard duty to get back to," said Fran. He followed after her as she escorted him out.

"It seems my charm must be lacking if your desire to return the tediousness of guard duty so swiftly is any indication," Mark replied. He wasn't flirting, he just liked the banter.

Fran let loose an amused snort, but didn't reply, simply gesturing to hurry up. Following the many stone corridors, he was let out back into the sunlight, revealing several more guards next to a large metal gate.

As he walked through it, he heard several of the female soldiers say, "thanks for saving the kid," or words to that effect.

He glanced back with a warm grin, "you're welcome," and returned to the cramped stone city of Alexandria. Time to see how difficult hunting mist monsters really was.

* * *

 **(CHAPTER END)**

 **Next Chapter: Too Many Goblins!**

* * *

 _Well, mostly a flashback but there was some actual story, he's left the castle, and now it's time to see how Mark fares with monster drop hunting._


	6. Too many Goblins!

**A/N:** I'm making the mist monsters and bosses in this story a lot more dangerous, to better conform to the adapted level system I am using for this story, and it's also more realistic, if level 5 - 10 characters can take the evil forest and first black waltz, then they aren't that dangerous.

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(Start of Chapter 4)**_

Character class: Wizard Knight

Level: 5, 1 _86xp until next level up_.

HP: 108 / 108

MP: 315 / 315

Strength: 25

Speed: 18

Spirit: 27

Magic: 44

Weapon: Bronze sabre

Armour: Traveller's cloak

Footwear: Leather shoes

Accessory: Isekai ring

Skills: None

Magic: Poison, Regen

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Isekai's traveller's sack

Gil: 0

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER FOUR**

 _Too Many Goblins_

* * *

The forest of death was home to countless monsters, but among the various beasts and insect mist monsters, there was one that actively left the forest to prey on travelling humans and small settlements, sometimes even attacking the capital in small groups, stealing, killing, and raping as chance allowed.

They hadn't succeeded against the capital in centuries, but still they tried, most Alexandrian soldiers that were stationed outside of the city, did so to protect their citizens from goblins, unlike the game, they were smart, worked well together, and were very vicious.

Ten miles away from the capital, a large group of Goblins, over one hundred of them marched on the city, but first they would attack small walled village that dealt mostly in trade for travellers. Unfortunately for Mark, he had hiked there in the hopes of finding a few mist monsters, he had found a single Goblin, a level 7 brute that he caught with a sleep spell, followed by poison, damaging several times before the poison woke the creature up, Mark lunged at it, running it through as it suddenly sat up, shrieking. It took several more stabs, and it was over.

"EXP gained: 126 points, 40 EXP until next level up."

* * *

 **Items gained:**

180 Gil

Antidote x1

* * *

"Finally some Gil!" laughed Mark scooping up the coins, they were smaller than pennies, though some were different colours, made of copper and iron, stamped on one side with a number, and on the other with the sword crest of the kingdom. He put away his items, regarding the goblin corpse, and the primitive dagger it clutched, 'why not?' he thought, picking it up.

* * *

 **Items gained:**

Goblin Dagger x1 (A low grade dagger made of iron, quite sharp)

* * *

"Hmm…So I can take anything for storage?" Now he had another weapon, and even though Dingir was portrayed as a swordsman, in reality, back home, he had been taught to use many weapons by a Wadou-ryuu master named Glovis, this included knives, swords, staffs, kunai, and Shuriken, and of course the barehanded methods of killing. There was no need to limit himself on combat options.

"Question, can I store corpses or living mist monsters within the traveller's sack?" he softly asked, waiting to see if the game system replied, as it often volunteered information.

" **Game Alert** : Meat can be extracted from mist monsters to eat using the system, however full corpses and living cannot be stored."

"Cool, so it can work as a Q+A," mused Mark. "Question, how long will the meat last?"

" **Game Alert:** It remains fresh when stored, but will degrade within a day outside of the sack."

"Okay, thanks." It never hurt to be polite, as he needed to rely upon this system until he became high level.

"Let's see how this goes…System, store Goblin Meat," the corpse disappeared in a flash of light, a dozen or so reddish steaks were briefly seen before flying into the sack. "Awesome."

* * *

 **Items gained:**

Goblin salted steak x13 (a low grade red steak salted for taste and to last longer)

* * *

"It's kind of like Runescape," he thought, he didn't like the idea of eating it, but if he was ever short on food, then it would come in handy, he was rather hungry now, but he had some money now, time to head to that walled village, he remembered vaguely that you could buy items through the gaps in metal gate, it was open now as they weren't at war with the other kingdoms yet, but it had quite a few soldiers on the walls and at the gates. If he was lucky it had an inn, if he could find more monsters today and avoid a long walk back or sleep in a tall tree to keep out of the mist.

It didn't take him long to get there, after being checked briefly by the soldiers at the gates, he was let in, the village was tiny, but half the space was dedicated to shops and an inn (thankfully) so he would use this place as a base of operations for the next week or so. If he could reach level 10, he would chance the rim of the Evil forest for frequent random encounters.

After getting a meal at a restaurant, he booked a night at the inn, napped for a few hours, and planned to head out to hunt more mist monsters before night fell, but then alarms began to sound, the gate was lowered, and soldiers began to gather.

"Goblin raid! Close the gate!"

"Everyone take up arms!"

'A goblin raid?' Climbing the winding stairs to the tops of the walls, slipping around panicked soldiers and villagers, he saw a large number of goblins approaching in makeshift armour and a variety of weapons, most likely taken in ambushes, but they kept a tight, almost military formation, and that was worrying, in addition to that, most of them were level 10, with only a few less than that, and some as high as level 15. Forget soloing evil forest, he'd likely have to wait until he got a party when the game started, if that was the standard of its residents.

His eyes flickered to the nearby soldiers, most of them were over level 10, or thereabouts, but they looked to be outnumbered five to one at least, and the gate wouldn't handle repeat ramming, they'd need to cover it, use wagons, carts, and crates, anything heavy, it was doubtful they would scale the thick stone walls, but they had long sharp nails, could they actually climb it? Mark hurried to the villagers and cajoled them into blocking up the gate, piling everything high with wagons and crates.

Already the soldiers were shooting arrows at the goblins, while the few among them that could use magic blasted them with first tier spells. After the initial panic, the soldiers worked like well oiled machines, and Mark felt some of his panic fade, if they could pick them off like this, then the people inside, himself included wouldn't have to fight. Still poison and sleep could help a lot, better to help from the walls at least. The Goblins were charging the gate, but it held, they tried stabbing through the bars, but the crates and carts that he and the villagers had crammed in front, prevented anyone being hurt...still, why encourage bad behaviour, palm extended towards a gap, he began to cast magic.

"Cast: Sleep. Cast Poison," they fell back, more took their place, he cast the spells another few times before they pulled back, the villagers, no longer having weapons waved at them or goblins snarling through the gaps, swiftly piled on more crates. "Good job!" Mark said with a grin and thumbs up, "keep piling things on, the heavier the better," he said. "If there are more weapons stores, get arrows to the soldiers, they'll run out soon at this rate."

"Got it," several ran off to fetch more bundles of arrows.

"What are you going to do?" one asked as he turned to leave.

"I'm going to assist our protectors with my magic, but be careful, have everyone get a weapon, some goblins might still get through," and with that he ran up the stone stairs to where the soldiers continued to fire, some missed, many were blocked, but at least thirty were dead. Oddly, they continued to attack without fear, some using the dead as makeshift shields, normally losing a third of your forces in less than an hour would make any army flee, but they pressed on, as if death meant nothing. Some goblins were riddled with arrows, but even they struggled on.

'This is ridiculous, they're smart enough to value their lives, what's driving them like this?' Mark pondered as he rushed onward. Several soldiers tried to stop him from coming among them, but he slipped past, not weighed down by armour, reaching the edge, he immediately began to use magic, "Cast: Sleep!" he declared loudly, making sure the Alexandrian soldiers heard him, several Goblins dropped, " Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!" he rapidly casted, targeting those at the front, many tumbling over them. "Cast: Poison on the arrows!" All of the arrow points glowed a sickly green, even those mid flight, adding a dangerous status effect, more goblins were being killed though, those asleep were quickly riddled with the projectiles.

He was roughly clapped on the shoulder and turned to meet the gaze of a surprisingly well built woman, she had a few inches on him in height, and packed with muscles, he felt his shoulder creak and he refrained with difficulty the instinct to wince. She was black haired like him, though with dark green eyes, perhaps four or five years his senior, his eyes briefly flickered to her status bar, but otherwise met her gaze with a firm, yet not challenging stare. Her name was Emilia, and she was level 25. Besides Beatrix, she was the highest level person he had met so far.

"This is a job for soldiers, magic or not, leave it to us," she said firmly. Oh she was worried about him, she took her job seriously and it was rather sweet, but he wouldn't stop until they were all dead or his MP ran empty. If they got inside, he'd probably be killed, and to hell with that.

"I'm actually a recent recruit of the Pluto Knights, I came here my day off," Mark lied smoothly, recalling Steiner's offer, "thank you for your concern, but I still have a duty to help however I can, I'm not much of a swordfighter yet, but my mana is high, I can cast magic repeatedly for a long time," he continued, making sure she understood where his value lay.

Her eyes narrowed, perhaps sensing his lie, "focus on using that poison spell, Goblins are not so swift they require Sleep for my soldiers to hit them with their arrows."

"Yes ma'am," Mark replied easily.

"Head over to the other mages and assist them from there, and don't get in their way." Oh, definitely an order. He sharply saluted and ran over to join the few magic users in their group.

They had already seen him assisting, they wasted no time talking, a swift nod and he joined them with blanketing the enemy with magic, they all used fire spells, but they required several strikes to kill one, 1st tier magic definitely, and though his own magic dealt much less damage, he had a far greater range and could blanket bomb the enemy with Poison per the muscular woman's orders, though Mark continued to slip in the occasional Sleep spell in other areas to help out.

Cannons were Alexandria's main means of long ranged attack, but with such a small walled keep, they lacked them and were forced to rely on arrows, they weren't brilliant archers, but they were decent enough, pity his little brother wasn't here, he was an annoyingly good shot with a bow and arrow, got a bull's-eye every damn time. He on the other hand was annoyingly terrible at it, if you didn't count throwing small sharp pieces of metal as long ranged skill.

It continued for another hour until all but one was dead, it was strangely dressed, and far back enough that none could hit it. It watched passively, showing no fear or concern, much like its dead allies.

'Something isn't right, they way they fought, this one's confidence, this odd feeling of pressure...' a sense of dead filled him, something had felt in decades. Somehow his life was still in mortal danger.

"Question," he whispered. "Can I view the name bar of this distant Goblin?"

'Game Alert: It is not a Goblin, and yes the stats can be viewed at a distance.' A small bar appeared in front of his eyes.

* * *

 _ **Necromancer Hobgoblin**_

 _ **Level:**_ _50_

 _ **Status Ailment:**_ _Berserk_

* * *

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Mark growled.

"What's wrong?" one of the magic users asked.

"It's a Brahne damned Necromancer!" he replied. This was bad, those Goblins were dead from the start, that would explain their ruthless, reckless charges, and mindless lack of fear. It would explain why he hadn't levelled up a lot, even with shared EXP, he had contributed to many kills with his magic. The one he fought early must have been a scout, kept alive to be able to act independently. The Hobgoblin would revive them soon, Mark wanted to charge in and kill it, but at level fifty, it was ten times as strong as him, even Emilia would be killed in a few direct hits, he however and most of the others, would die in one hit. Only Beatrix could win against this thing.

He ran to Emilia, who too was observing the Hobgoblin with confusion. "Emilia! It's a necromancer!" he yelled.

"What?" she demanded, turning to face him.

"It's a level 50 necromancer, we need to send for reinforcements, we need Beatrix."

"Level 50?" she replied, looking unsettled, good, so they did know themselves about the levelling system, he had wondered. But her face soured at the mention of Beatrix, given her strong physique, she likely hated not being the best fighter, losing out to someone of an almost petite physique like Beatrix, likely hurt Emilia's pride. "Wait, how would you know that?" her gaze suspicious.

"I can use the spell Scan," Mark lied easily. "I was puzzled by its appearance and actions, and used it to confirm my fears...that it was strong."

"Shit..."

"Yeah, any moment now it will bring them back, we need someone to head to the city and request the general and any available forces to come here, do we have any horses?"

"A few that could handle hard riding, are you volunteering?" she asked.

"As much as I'd like to run, I've never rode a horse before, and it needs to be someone strong in case they are followed," Mark replied.

 **"CAST: HOARD LIFE!"** bellowed a guttural voice, they focused on the Hobgoblin, it's staff raised, body surrounded in black, pulsating magic.

"It can talk?"

"Oh, this is not good," the blackness stretched out over the battlefield, slowly the Goblins struggled to their feet. An army of one hundred, once again stood ready to kill them. They had used up a lot of arrows, all the magic users apart from Mark used up all their MP, and he was down to less than half, and that was after being given an Ether.

"Here we go again..." Mark growled. Once they ran out of arrows and magic, they could probably scale the walls or at least begin battering down the gate. "We need to get someone to go now!"

Would this be the end of them? Wait until next time to find out.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

Next Chapter: Fetch the General, stay alive!

* * *

 _Sorry for the slow update, I was computer was broken for two weeks, which sucked so much!_

 _Until next time!_


	7. Fetch the General, stay alive!

**A/N:** I'm making the mist monsters and bosses in this story a lot more dangerous, to better conform to the adapted level system I am using for this story, and it's also more realistic, if level 5 - 10 characters can take the evil forest and first black waltz, then they aren't that dangerous. Also to the few people who think my stat pages take up too much space, lay off, it's a new line with every stat. However in fairness, I won't count the stats and A/N as part of my word count in future chapters.

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** ** _(Start of Chapter 5)_**

Character class: Wizard Knight

Level: 5, 40 _xp until next level up_.

HP: 108 / 108

MP: 158 / 315

Strength: 25

Speed: 18

Spirit: 27

Magic: 44

Weapon: Bronze sabre

Armour: Traveller's cloak

Footwear: Leather shoes

Accessory: Isekai ring

Skills: None

Magic: Poison, Regen

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, Goblin Dagger, 13 Goblin Steak

Gil: 180

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER FIVE**

 _Fetch the General, stay alive!_

* * *

In the end we convinced Emilia to be the rider. She was the strongest of us, and the only one who could escape alone. Taking her horse through a smaller side exit, she fled along the edge of the forest, heading to Alexandria castle town, which we sealed up again behind her. Goblins followed, perhaps a dozen, with several mages among them. But we could only hope she would make it.

Emilia wanted to keep fighting, but in defensive castle warfare, her full strength couldn't be used, neither was she a magic user, and neither was she the only officer there. While Mark knew a lot about strategy, he also knew that they wouldn't follow him. They did however listen to his suggestions, and that was more than enough.

His magic was down by half, normally by now he could have levelled up enough to learn new magicks, but the undead provided no EXP, only by killing the Hobgoblin Necromancer did they stand a chance of doing that, and at level 50, they didn't stand a chance of surviving such an attempt. Mark had been running about the castle perimeter, as the Goblins now attacked from all sides, but Mark retaliated by providing blanketed Poison spells.

The Necromancer would wait until they all died before reviving the hoard. It was likely due to MP consumption. A mass revival spell couldn't be cheap to use, the gradual thinning of enemies was something they needed to use so that archers and mages could rest.

In places where arrows were beginning to run low, he had the villagers throwing stones at those trying to scale the walls, or anything heavy. The children and Elderly helped carry projectiles up for the throwers, in addition to the arrows they had been bringing to the archers before this.

But the Goblins were beginning to climb the walls none the less. One tackled into Mark, sending him sprawling. It was a level 15, wielding twin long daggers. Everyone was too busy to help him, and he didn't waste time distracting them, drawing his bronze sword, he took a stance, and whispered, "Equip: Goblin Dagger," the iron dagger appeared in his right hand in a flicker of light.

"GRRRRRHH!" the undead Goblin growled, broken off arrow shafts sticking outside his body.

"Thankfully HP isn't the only way to kill things," remarked Mark as he circled the Goblin. "Let's watch as I overcome the level difference with skill, hey Monster?"

* * *

 _Game Alert: conditions achieved!_

 _Martial Skills unlocked: mixed weapon dual wielding_

* * *

Knowledge of his real life skills entered his mind with a sudden painful rush, it was only a tiny flicker of what he knew in the real world, but he would take anything he could get. 'Interesting, so it's not just based on level ups, but also circumstantial?' In any case, he would take any advantage he could get.

The Goblin swung at him, he redirected the goblin's knife with his own, he felt his bones creak in protest, its strength stats must be much higher than his then. But Mark only needed to stop it for a second, he sliced the monster's head off with his sword before it could pull back. Blood spewed, soaking the world traveller.

"Phew, that was close!" Mark gasped, casting Regen on himself, he grabbed the Goblin's head and threw it over one side of the gate, he then dragged the Goblin's body and threw it over the other side, knocking several Goblins that were scaling the walls. There were too few arrows left, too few capable of spells. Hopefully being beheaded would interfere with the revival process.

But every delay they could manage, was more time for Beatrix and her forces to be marshalled, and more lives, including his that could be saved. "You've got this Emilia."

* * *

"Get out of my way!" roared Emilia as she cut down yet another Goblin, the undead were fast, not worrying or feeling as they tore their muscles apart to keep pace with her steed. The magic users were further back, casting spells at her, she zigg-zagged, narrowly avoiding them, several times she was forced to take a hit for her mount, so that she could continue to escape. Downing a potion to heal her seared back and arms, courtesy of a Fire spell, she continued on towards the city. She could see it now in the distance. "Come on, we can do this!"

* * *

Beheading the undead Goblins did the trick, when the Necromancer was forced to revive its forces, only the heads came to life, their bodies unresponsive, they had killed dozens in this manner, but now the Necromancer was playing smarter, Goblin mages began using weaker, faster spells to limit the actions of the archers and rock/anything throwers, so that the heads could be retrieved and reattached.

Meanwhile more were attacking the gates, a tree was knocked down and began to batter against the gate, those not fighting at the moment, hurriedly tried to pile up a larger barricade behind the gate as it began to warp and break as the undead repeatedly charged against the gate with their impromptu ram. They would break in soon.

* * *

"Emilia?" remarked Beatrix in surprise, as she regarded the badly injured soldier approach her on horseback. She and her squad had just finished a routine patrol, when Emilia approached at high speeds, something was very wrong. "What's happened?" Beatrix demanded, as Emilia jumped down from her horse, swaying slightly, her body covered in cuts and burns, she needed a white mage.

"An attack on the keep, a hundred Goblins," Emilia quickly relayed.

'Emilia has enough forces for a mere hundred Goblins,' thought Beatrix as she helped steady the larger warrior. "What else?"

"A-A level 50 Necromancer that continues to revive them, our mages are spent and we were running low on arrows when I was bullied into leaving for help, your help, you're there only fighter in the city who could take a level 50."

'Interesting, one of her officers is quite the realist,' thought Beatrix as she ordered several soldiers to take Emilia to be treated and to call for any spare soldiers to hurry to the keep, her squad would go ahead, none of her immediate subordinates were below level 20, and she could handle a level 50 easily in most cases, she was level 99 after all, the strongest a humanoid could be.

"My soldiers, we ride for battle!"

And so, they hurried for the keep, on their fastest horses, it would not take long to reach the walled village, they could only hope that their soldiers and the citizens that lived there, weren't already dead.

* * *

The gate and barricade had fallen. The dying started, I thankfully was not among them. They flooded in, well tried, around twenty broke in, but soldiers were quick to react, some villagers and soldiers died, but more Goblins. They began throwing up another barricade, but many died to swift footed goblins, stabbing through the meagre pile up of rubble they attempted to erect. They needed more time.

Swallowing the bile threatening to rise in his throat, Mark ran alongside the wall and leapt down onto a secondary group of Goblins trying to get through the gate. Several blades bit into his flesh, he grit his death, and with a flurry of blade work, removed the heads of nearly half of the group. He faced worse injuries in the past, in real life, but he'd forgotten how truly much it hurt.

"R-Regen..." he gasped, it wouldn't do much to these serious injuries, but it would hopefully stop him bleeding out.

A dagger pierced his thigh.

Another dagger sliced deep into his back.

"G-Gah!"

Mark stumbled forward, his leg giving out, narrowly avoiding several more attacks by luck. He twisted his body as he fell, now facing his attackers as they tried to pin him with their daggers, he jammed his dagger into the rotting eye socket of one of them, and ripping it to the side, destroyed it's brain. It died on top of him as his back hit the ground hard.

"Shit!"

Then a dagger stabbed into his shoulder.

"Ahhh!"

The second goblin hadn't wasted the opening. Instead of pulling it out for another stab, it slammed its fist down, likely destroying its hand, the dagger passed through his shoulder completely and stabbed into the ground beneath Mark, he screamed.

He was stuck!

The Goblin stood, it grabbed a sword from a nearby dead Alexandrian soldier, raising it up for a two handed swing. But another Alexandrian soldier speared the creature in its side, the Goblin released its grip on the sword, she immediately caught it, and removed the monster's head with a swift swing.

He was saved!

Well kind of...

Everything hurt, except for his shoulder, which was dangerously numb. The occasional glow indicating his Regen spell was still going, wasn't doing much, but it was keeping him alive.

HP: 18 / 108

MP: 40 / 315

* * *

Trance unlocked: Balmung Strike (MP cost: 30)

* * *

The soldier pulled the goblin off him, now he could see other soldiers making swift work of the second wave of goblins.

"Still Alive?" she asked. Her status bar said, 'Vivian, level 16.'

"Just about," Mark replied, "and thanks."

"This is going to hurt a lot," she warned, grabbing the dagger, keeping him on the ground. "Brace yourself."

"Just do it," he replied, gritting his teeth.

She pulled it out in one swift, violent movement. Blood spurted. Mark bit back down a scream, she pulled a potion to his lips, which he happily drank. All his wounds closed up, but still his body hurt like hell, it wouldn't take much to reopen them.

Vivian yanked him to his feet, "come on!" the barricade was almost covered again, the other soldiers who had come to his and the barricades aid, hurried through with them, and it was closed up behind them.

They hurried out of the way, while the tree trunk the goblins had used as a ram, was pushed up against the barricade from the inside. Apparently they had fetched it while he was being reckless. The goblins wouldn't get back in this way.

"Nice one, they ain't getting through that," Mark stated with a weak grin, his legs were still shaking. How long had it been since he'd faced pain like that? Damn it, he needed to get stronger, "and thanks for saving me."

The soldier Vivian looked vaguely surprised, most men hated being rescued by women, but with most of the military being female, they just had to suck it up, but this self proclaimed Pluto Knight was far less pretentious and arrogant than what she was used to. "You're welcome, but try not to throw your life away like that, you're way too low level to do stuff like that."

"Heh, no promises," Mark grinned, using his sword to balance himself, he looked up to the wall, Goblins were still trying to get over, but so far they had managed to keep them from doing so. "With the entrances blocked, as long as we keep them from getting over the walls in mass, we can last until Beatrix gets here."

* * *

The Hobgoblin growled in frustration, he's immortal army should have easily handled this keep, a mere walled village, with a small number of soldiers, and even fewer mages, it should have been easy. But they kept killing his army, no matter how many times he revived them. He had actually used half of his MP on reviving them again and again.

How could they take Alexandria like this? If a mere keep kept them so evenly match. He needed more forces first. He would slaughter all of them, and make them part of his forces, he would enslave the Fangs, the Plant Spiders, and every human they encountered. But first, he needed to knock down the walls.

"Cast: Demi!" and a massive orb of darkness swirled above the keep. It was time to attack personally!

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

Next Chapter: Level 5 Trance vs. Level 50 Hobgoblin

* * *

Hi everyone, so sorry for the long delay, but as always, I have other fanfiction as well as my professional published novels. But as always, I'll get these out as soon as the circumstances allow. :)


	8. Level 5 Trance vs Level 50 Hobgoblin

**A/N:** We're near the end of the Necromancer arc. Wish our many brave OC's luck, and swift travels to Beatrix.

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(Start of Chapter 6)**_

Character class: Wizard Knight

Level: 5, 40 _xp until next level up_.

HP: 78 / 108

MP: 40 / 315

Strength: 25

Speed: 18

Spirit: 27

Magic: 44

Weapon: Bronze sabre

Armour: Traveller's cloak

Footwear: Leather shoes

Accessory: Isekai ring

Skills: None

Magic: Poison, Regen

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, Goblin Dagger, 13 Goblin Steak

Gil: 180

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER SIX**

 _Level 5 Trance vs. Level 50 Hobgoblin_

* * *

"Cast: Demi!" thundered the guttural voice of the Necromancer across the battlefield, and a massive orb of darkness swirled above the keep.

A spell that did 25% damage to all targets no matter how high your level or HP.

A high level spell, but not one that could kill them.

And yet the Hobgoblin cast it in favour of reviving its dead.

As they all tried to find some shelter, and thought occurred to Mark. Why this attack? Then the possibility occurred, if it weakened us by a quarter, what could do the walls? While game mechanics existed, the rules of magic and combat were much more logical, what kind of magic only works on people or monsters? Four walls, a quarter, one wall...

"No, it can't be!" If a wall was destroyed, they wouldn't last long enough for Beatrix to arrive. He had unlocked his first trance mode on the verge of death, even now he could feel it demanding to be used. But he had only enough MP for a single use, and while it could probably one hit the Necromancer's forces, it was doubtful it would do much against the level 50 caster. But if he timed and angled it right, he could probably catch it in the attack as well.

* * *

 **Trance Skill List:**

 _Balmung Strike_

 _Cost: 30MP_

 _Effect: A circular slashing attack using the caster as the epicentre that draws forth Balmung for an instant, hitting all enemies in reach . Max range, 500 meters._

* * *

The Demi smashed down upon them, an agonising pain ran through their bodies and they were all thrown to the ground. One wall disintegrated, leaving the still moving Goblins, a means of attack. As we all struggled to our feet, the Goblins flooded in, many of us died without getting a chance to counter attack, or even stand.

Picking up our weapons, Alexandrian soldiers, villagers, and world traveller alike, fought back. It wasn't like last time, the fight was on their terms. Still with manic effort we beat them back over the course of an hour, forcing them past the wall, or where the wall had once been. It wasn't much, but it stopped us from being flanked.

Now the Hobgoblin revived his Goblins without waiting for them all to die, denying us time to barricade the massive gap in our defences. For a monster it was smart. If Mark wanted to use his Trance, he couldn't afford to use anymore magic. As he tired from the continuous fighting, Mark had no choice but to quickly down one of his precious potions, only one potion left.

The fight dragged on and on, many martial art skills returned to him, while his level didn't increase, he was becoming stronger and stronger by being more efficient, calling forth movements and techniques from his real life. When he threw a Goblin using its momentum, he received his knowledge of Aikido, then he understood. If his movements or actions matched a skill, it was triggered and returned to him, and so, even as his life was on the line, he recklessly experimented.

* * *

 _Acquired: Karate gouging techniques_

 _Acquired: Full standing forward rolls_

 _Acquired: Aikido throws_

 _Acquired: Aikido Grabbling and locks_

 _Acquired: Four directional evasion_

 _Acquired: Dance steps applied for dodging_

 _Acquired: Jojutsu_

 _Acquired: Wadou-ryuu_

 _Acquired: Self learned mixed martial arts_

 _Acquired: Boxing_

 _Acquired: Kinetic connectivity_

* * *

There was still much more, but the goblins could no longer land a blow on him despite his low level, he danced around them, killing and killing and killing, helping others, killing and killing and killing.

The Hobgoblin began to cast his revival spell.

Mark downed his last potion.

Everyone was exhausted.

They couldn't handle another round of Goblin attacks.

It was time to use the Trance.

He rushed through the massive gap in their defence, swiftly running past the corpses, even as they began to quiver as life returned to them. He had covered half the distance between the keep and the Necromancer. It was time to use his trance. With 500 meter range in every direction, he could hit all of them.

He would almost certainly die afterward.

It had been hours, Beatrix had to be close, she had to be!

Still adrenaline kept him surging onwards. He had reckless in real life, why not in this fantasy nonsense? The weak had to take chances to survive in the world of the strong.

His power began spill forth, the trance's multicolour aura billowing around him. Though Mark couldn't see it at the time, his hair darkened and lengthened, flowing unnaturally. Otherwise his form didn't change, his bronze sword was engulfed in black fluid, which took the shape of Balmung, a curved one handed sword that was wider at the middle.

All the Goblins had revived.

The Hobgoblin looked confused by his presence, it raised a hand, charging another Demi.

" _ **Trance: Balmung Strike!"**_ Mark yelled, swinging Balmung in a swift arc. There was a flicker of blackness and all the Goblins were cut in two, their upper bodies lifting up and scattering across the battlefield. When the lengthened blade reached the Necromancer, the powerful Hobgoblin guarded against the Balmung, but was sent skidding back dozens of feet, a deep gash that reached the bone appeared on the Hobgoblin's arm. Blood gushed, it stumbled, arm hanging limply.

 **"YOU LOWLY HUMAN!"** it thundered in a terrible rage. It didn't bother with a spell, this required physical satisfaction. The human's eyes were unfocused, it must be low on MP. The Necromancer covered the distance in an instant, and drove its fist into Mark's chest, he vomited blood as his ribcage cracked.

HP: 4 / 108

MP: 10 / 310

It grabbed his dropped sword and swung for Mark's head, only to miss, as the human had already collapsed in a pile of his own blood.

"Cura!" yelled a woman's voice and Mark's body was engulfed in a healing green light.

HP: 108 / 108

MP: 10 / 310

Help had arrived. His reckless attempt had brought seconds, but they were here, and he still lived.

Snarling, the Hobgoblin attacked again at the unconscious Mark, but a silver sword blocked his attack, the legendary blade 'Save the Queen.' The Hobgoblin was repelled, it quickly cast its revival spell, hoping to surround this high level enemy, but they were attacked from behind by high level Alexandrian soldiers and were unable to aid their Necromancer master.

A few made it past, but Beatrix casually beheaded them as she approached the Hobgoblin.

"To think a mere level 50 could cause this much trouble," she remarked, charging powerful offensive magic into her sword.

The Hobgoblin felt a chill of absolute fear, sensing the level difference between them. The difference between was far more vast than the strength difference between itself and the unconscious world traveller on the grass.

"Flare!" it growled generating a mass of non-elemental energy, it blasted it towards Beatrix, who took a low drawing stance as it approached.

"Climhazzard!" a tremendous arc of energy erupted from her blade, it sliced through the Flare spell, causing it to detonate early, the mass of heat, light and energy blinded the Necromancer and it wasn't able to react in time as the slicing energy continued onward, cutting the level 50 Hobgoblin from head to groin, it split apart in a fountain of blood.

The undead Goblins that were still alive then collapsed in a pile of liquefying flesh and crumbling bone, the magic that kept them bound to this world fading away.

Cheers were heard from the keep, the survivors deeply relieved that it was finally over. Just under half of them had survived, but it was better than a total massacre. They had fought long and hard against a seemingly never-ending threat. Without killing the Necromancer, they had no way to win. But their desperate efforts had lasted until one who could, their renowned General Beatrix had been able to reach the battlefield.

Mark remained unconscious, though his wounds had been completely healed by the mid tier spell, but that didn't magically wake him up, his low MP put a big strain on his mind, combined with using Trance for the first time, he would likely be out for days.

* * *

 **Shared EXP gained...**

EXP gained: 5820 points

 **LEVEL UP!**

 **LEVEL UP!**

 **LEVEL UP!**

 **LEVEL UP!**

 **LEVEL UP!**

"163 points until next level up."

* * *

Soaked in his own blood, Beatrix regarded him for a moment, before effortlessly slinging him over her shoulder, despite being close to three times her size. She left his sword where it lay, it was broken to pieces by her attack, not surprising, really. It was a cheap, low quality weapon.

"Keep playing at hero, huh?" she said to him as she headed over to rejoin her forces, who were hurrying to the keep where they were aiding the injured. "Well, stupid as that was, thanks for helping out." She sighed in defeat, perhaps her sister was right, perhaps he wasn't a rogue after all.

Meanwhile, unknown to Beatrix, a red mist rose from the corpse of the Necromancer Hobgoblin, it shot into the air, and disappeared from site.

* * *

From a long distance away, watching atop their mini two person airship, Thorn and Zorn had watched the entire battle. They hadn't expected the Necromancer to fail, the berserker aspect magic they had granted the random Goblin they'd found couldn't stand up against a level 99 holy knight true. Still that wasn't the issue, nobody should have been able to escape, nobody should have lived long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

"That traveller helped too much, he did," remarked Thorn.

"Indeed, he helped too much," Zorn agreed with a deep frown. "Weak he is, but smart, delay, delay, delay, the queen's soldiers do not fight like that. Ruined things he did."

"Powerful trance he had, dangerous this one is," declared Thorn. "Kill him, we should?"

"Not tell Queen Brahne about this, Master Kuja not be pleased we fail because of weak traveller," Zorn disagreed. This experiment was done without their majesty's permission. Their true master had ordered this, but they should not chance the Queen's ire for using her own subjects.

"Ah!" realised Thorn. "Blame on horrible General, we should."

"Agreed, horrible General, we should blame," Zorn mirrored.

"But still, we should watch this one, Master is interested in Trance users." Thorn said.

"If Trance user interferes again, kill him we should," Zorn suggested.

"Yes," Thorn held up the binoculars, travellers garb, dark hair, and a beard, but the distance was too great to see his features clearly. "Can't see his face."

"Troublesome, that is," sighed Zorn. "Keep eyes peeled, we should."

A red wisp of mist floated towards them. Zorn held out his hand and it condensed into a tiny red orb. When eaten it caused a manic state, driving them to kill and get stronger. A level 50 Goblin was an abnormality, with this they levelled up many times faster.

"Failed experiment, this is."

"Give to Black Waltz, we should."

"Perhaps."

* * *

Three days passed, Mark slept as his MP and stamina slowly recovered. He had been transported back to the city, as had all the survivors. The keep would be rebuilt stronger than ever once the troops were recalled to act as guards while the craftsmen did their work. Little though it might have been, he had made a difference.

Hironobu stood over his bed. "I'm impressed," he said quietly. "Perhaps beneath the mask of an arrogant creator and artist, there is the possibility of a hero." He turned to leave, his body fading away like mist. "I'll be counting on you to correct my mistake." He vanished.

Mark wasn't the first author he had sent to this world as punishment.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next chapter: Joining the Pluto Knights after rough sex_

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(End of Chapter 6)**_

Character class: Wizard Knight

Level: 10, 163 _xp until next level up_.

HP: 523 / 523

MP: 630 / 630

Strength: 28

Speed: 20

Spirit: 35

Magic: 49

Weapon: Goblin Dagger

Armour: Traveller's cloak

Footwear: Leather shoes

Accessory: Isekai ring

Skills: None

Magic: Poison, Regen

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak

Gil: 180

* * *

Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The Necromancer arc is finally over, time for Steiner to return to the plot, and of course introducing Princess Garnet.

That has nothing to do with the next chapter's title, get your minds out the gutters!

I'm almost old enough to be her father.

Hah! I remember playing the game when I was 11 years old. Time goes so fast.

As for what's hinted in the next chapter title, it's an army full of physically fit women, of course I'm going to give it a go. In real life, I like my women strong, and that will carry over to my OC / SI.

Also before any of you guys complain about the times five level up, he did get shared EXP from a level 50 character. Only he and Beatrix dealt the creature damage, and as we know it gets divided equally no matter how meagre an amount one character contributed to the kill. And had undead provided EXP, Mark and the rest would have probably levelled up 10 times plus each. Think how much we as gamers can level our parties with 2 - 3 hours of grinding.

That said, he's barely as strong as the weakest grunts of the Pluto Knights, he just moves better and has more combat options. Most Alexandrian soldiers are in the 15 - 20 bracket, so he's still a weak character.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you want to learn more about my Dingir character that this is loosely based on, check out on Amazon my book **Grey Faction: Mistaken Apostles** , available worldwide. :)


	9. Coma dream and abomination

**Mark's character stats**

Character class: Wizard Knight

Level: 10, 163 _xp until next level up_.

HP: 523 / 523

MP: 630 / 630

Strength: 28

Speed: 20

Spirit: 35

Magic: 49

Weapon: Goblin Dagger

Armour: Traveller's cloak

Footwear: Leather shoes

Accessory: Isekai ring

Skills: None

Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea.

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak

Gil: 180

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6.5**

 _The coma dream and abomination_

* * *

His mind and body utterly exhausted, Mark had remained unconscious for nearly three days since the Goblin invasion, he along with the rest of the wounded soldiers and villagers had been brought to the city and were being cared for by the castle's medics.

* * *

 **(Dream Sequence - Multiple POV's)**

 _We had brought the mansion at an excellent price, four stories, acres of land, a massive swimming pool, even an extensive basement level with a fully equipped gym at only a fraction of its market value, but we should have known it was too good to be true. If it was as simple as someone died here before, or it was used by a drug cartel, I wouldn't have cared in the slightest._

 _To be honest even a ghost wouldn't have been all that bad, whose wife doesn't have a few occult knickknacks lying around that might be handy in such a situation? What we were to soon face was significantly worse than the plot of a recycled omen movie. Our danger sadly had a physical presence._

 _It started with our pets, we had three dogs, good sturdy beasts that a wolf or coyote would likely come away poorly from a confrontation with them, not those flimsy custom purse poodles that spoiled teens oddly favour. Sweet as our dogs were with my wife and kids, I knew they were fighters, as during a break-in about five years ago, when six men broke into our home, they were half-dead by the time I got downstairs with my shot gun, savaged with admirable predatory skill. No remains were discovered, we reported them missing, but the police weren't too bothered. They assumed they'd simply gotten loose, and doubted criminal intent as it was a high end neighbourhood, and wild animal attacks were extremely rare._

 _Then came the growls and large scratch marks on the walls, deep gouges, impossibly large, that no bear could hope to imitate. While my wife wanted to put up security cameras to see what had caused the damage, we certainly hadn't found anything skulking in our new home, and if we had it would have killed us in our sleep. I knew something was fundamentally wrong, I had grown up on horror stories, and my family always liked the ancient sagas, heroes, and pantheons of forgotten gods. I had never really believed in it, but I had enjoyed it. In the off-chance something like that was really happening, I didn't plan to be part of a B-list horror flick. I hurried to my new study, most of it was still in boxes, even before the dogs had vanished, I had been busy getting everything settled. Moving across States was no simple task._

 _The one thing in the study that was being used, was a small safe built into the wall. It was an older model, but still good, sturdy iron. I put in the key and turned it, inside were not treasures in the normal sense, only to me, rare photos of my now deceased parents, they had never been one for such things, my father's signet ring, a worn and frayed toy that I was too embarrassed to put in display or keep in the bedroom or on a random shelf. I was nearly fifty years old. I searched through the various priceless objects and pulled out a business card. It was worse for wear but still readable, on it read 'John Hickson', beneath that in smaller golden font was a phone number with several extra digits. On the reverse was the name of an occult shop both my parents liked to go to when I was young._ _ **The Demon Workshop,**_ _it was an old, bizarre place with incredible, impossible products. I had loved it. The owner was a bald man in either his thirties or forties, it was hard to tell with the mass of connected tattoos that covered his skin. They glowed like magic, but that could easily be the delusions of an imaginative child._

 _He was a nice, if strange man, he had given him this business card, making it appear in a flash of blue light, like magic._

 _"If you ever need our services little one, don't hesitate to call, we are always open."_

 _I dialled the number on my mobile phone, the card then began to glow, and I almost dropped it. A deep growl echoed at the edge of my hearing, I span, but saw nothing. Heart pounding, I put the phone to my ear again. It connected._

 _"Welcome to the Demonic Workshop, our operating times are always, and our services cover from the mundane, to the magical, to the delightfully demonic," spoke a familiar man's voice. "How can we help you today, caller?"_

 _Another growl echoed, this time louder, more guttural._

 _"Oh dear!" said the voice at the other end of the line. "You might want to be quick with what you want, it sounds rather big."_

 _"I think I have a monster or something in my house, can you come help?" I demanded, as the man could hear the growl as well._

 _"Of course!" the voice replied. "Now run to your door and place the business card anywhere on the door and then turn it."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Just do it, or you'll be dead in a few seconds," came back the chillingly light reply to mortal peril._

 _The creek of wooden floor, inside my study!_

 _I ran as fast as I could, and slammed the card against the hard wood, and yanking it open, too frightened, I dived through, a bellow sounding behind me. I slammed the door shut and scrambled back. It was then I realised I was inside a massive, ancient looking shop, and not the hallway that it should have connected to. Magic!_

 _"My cards are rather special you see," said the speaker from the phone, I turned and saw a middle aged tattooed man standing about ten feet away, using a fifties style phone that was mounted to the wall. It was him, and somehow he hadn't aged a day. "Touch any door and you can come here, one of my more ingenious magicks, I must admit." He put down the phone, and approached, offering me a hand to get up. I accepted. He yanked me up._

 _"John Hickson?" I blurted._

 _"That's right," he affirmed._

 _"W-Why haven't you aged?" I demanded._

 _"Oh? New are we, that's surprising, I don't give out those cards often, you know."_

 _"I came here as a kid with my parents..." I began, unsure how to articulate what I wanted to say._

 _"Ah, that would explain your confusion, the answer is simple: magic!"_

 _What I wanted to say was cut off as the door began to shake and a deep, guttural bellow filled the store. "Oh god, it's coming!"_

 _"Well, that's a surprise, it can sense my magic, normally demons can't come here unless I let them," noted Hickson with mild surprise, but no fear. Though as the hinges and wood began to warp, he began to pull me away. "We probably shouldn't be close when it breaks in."_

 _"What?"_

 _The door exploded, though the shards vanished into thin air, likely magic again. From the opening then came a huge mass of shadowy bulk, I saw glowing red eyes and a mass of gigantic teeth, almost human, but big enough to swallow us both with ease. It let loose a bellow, eyeing me with evil intent. This was the thing that killed my dogs, scarred up my walls, and followed me when I called for help._

 _It began to squeeze though the gap, holy shit, it was big!_

 _I turned to John Hickson as he carefully led me further back, out of reach, as a massive bear like arm, with sword-like claws swung at us, missing us by inches. It growled again, and began twisting about, trying to get in fully, God's above, it was big!_

 _"Mark, take care of this!" shouted Hickson to the second floor of the shop._

 _"Don't order me about," said a deep, but young voice. Someone jumped down from the second floor, landing in front of us, he was big, he wore a long leather jacket, that reached his knees, and in each hand he carried a sword. They glowed, magic again, I suspect._

 _The monster bellowed in a rage and swung at the newcomer, this 'Mark' parried the claws, cutting through them easily, as though he was using a light-sabre or something equally impossible._

 _The monster breathed out a mass of red 'something', but suddenly my eyes were engulfed in a blinding white light and I was forced to close them. As the burning tingle faded, I hesitantly opened them, and we were alone, the monster was gone. The once destroyed door was gone, replaced by an old wooden one that matched the shop's antique decor._

 _"It got away," said the young man, turning to face them, a faint irritation showing his features. He was younger than I thought, eighteen at the very most. He hard dark hair, that verged on being black, and strange grey eyes, with many bags under them, he likely didn't sleep much. I didn't recognise his accent, could be English, could be Australian, and I would probably get it wrong. "Should I go kill it?" he asked._

 _"Now that depends on our guest here," replied Hickson. I looked at him, in surprise. "We are a business Mister Conner, I assume you can afford our rates?"_

 _I panicked. "I'll pay anything you ask, please just get that thing out of my house!" I didn't even question at the time, of how the shop owner remembered me, I did not favour my father's features, and it was forty years ago._

 _"Your house...shit!" sighed Mark, giving Hickson a meaningful look, before turning to me. "You got family in that house?" he asked. I felt a chill, of course, if it wasn't here, then it was there, with my family..._

 _"We have to hurry!" I yelled._

 _"I'll reconnect my door to another door in your home, as that one was destroyed. What's your address?" Hickson asked, while Mark sheathed his swords, which were tied to his belt, his long coat hiding them from view. He then grabbed a number of objects off the shelves, and stuffed them into his pocket. I rattled off my address to the apparently un-aging shop owner._

 _Numerous glowing, spinning magic circles appeared in front of Hickson, he ran his fingers against them, they span and changed, the ancient looking symbols shifting and adapting to their creator's will. "Well get going then," the magic circles flew towards the door, sticking to it, and melding into the woodwork._

 _Mark calmly headed for the door, as he opened it, I saw the entrance hall, we must be using the front door, no monster was waiting there, but then I heard my children scream. Mark leapt through the door and hurried in the direction of the noise. On panicked, adrenaline fuelled feet, I hurried after him. The creature was in the dining room, one of the few places that could give it freedom of movement, though it had no trouble chasing me in my room._

 _My youngest, Katie was holding a bloody leg and crying, my wife lay unconscious on the floor, bleeding heavily from her temple. Meanwhile, Harry and Elizabeth were in the grip of the monster, one in each hand. Eyeing them, deciding which to eat first. "Get away from my family!" I bellowed, rushing the creature without any thought. It casually swiped at me, sending me sprawling._

 _"Daddy!"_

 _Daddy, help!"_

 _Both the creatures arms were sliced off, my children fell to the ground, still in its shadowy, dismembered grip. Mark placed a hand on each child, whispering something, it sounded like Latin or Spanish, I wasn't sure which._

 _"Malo Purget..." The two demonic limbs dissolved in a brief flash of light, he quickly passed my children to me, as the creature thrashed about in apparent agony. I retreated with my children, as I set them down with the others, he spoke to me. "Take them all to the shop, they'll tend to your injuries." The monster re-grew it's arms, and swelled in rage, casting a deep shadow on their surroundings. "I can't promise that your house will survive." He took a stance, a white aura surrounding his body and weapons._

 _"Pretty..." said Elizabeth, as I left with my family, my wife and Katie slung over my shoulder, my children hurrying ahead, glad to be away from the monster. I didn't spare the young man a glance as we fled for our lives, I could only hope that he could handle it._

 _Mark let loose a sigh of relief, the family would just get in the way. He ran about the large room as masses of shadows erupted from the creatures body, he dodged them while throwing small balls of blessed silver, as they struck against the massive demon's malleable, shadowy body, they exploded like a tiny grenade, burying the shards deep into the creature's body. Mark dived behind and upturned table to avoid the shards. The blessed silver began to burn the creature from the inside, it shrieked, and began ripping the 'infected' parts from its body._

 _"Huh? that's a first," Mark remarked in surprise. Then the creature regenerated, much faster, it was growing used to his purifying magic. It's arms had regenerated too, it slapped him with massive force, smashing him through the surrounded walls. Mark vomited blood, his back and neck spasming in pain. As the creature charged at him, he hurled a bottle of Holy water into its mouth. It pulled back with a shriek. Mark struggled to his feet, eyes glowing like molten gold, his angelic power growing stronger. Now he was pissed off. He approached the creature, "Sanctitudo..." he muttered, it was time for the kill. "Let's see how many times you can regenerate."_

 _ **"Dingir!"**_ _growled the monster, blasting at him with red mist from its mouth, igniting the air around them._

 **(Dream Sequence end)**

* * *

Mark's eyes flickered open, what an odd dream, he had dreamt, saw and felt what everyone in the dream had, particularly that of an old man, and a younger version of himself. Dingir! Another fictional recollection of this avatar body.

"W-Where am I?" Mark asked, every word was an effort to speak.

"Holy crap, his awake."

"Somebody call the healers."

"So...We survived," Mark whispered, drifting back to sleep.

* * *

 **(CHAPTER END)**

 _Next Chapter: Joining the Pluto Knights after rough sex_

* * *

A/N: Hey everyone, the next proper chapter will be out real soon.


	10. Joining the Pluto Knights

_**A/N:**_ _Hi everyone, just realised I didn't update my OC/SI's magic skills, probably because he never used them against the Goblins, still, face palm moment! But I've added them to his stats now. :) Hope you all enjoy the chapter._

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(Beginning of Chapter 7)**_

Character class: Wizard Knight

Level: 10, 163 _xp until next level up_.

HP: 523 / 523

MP: 630 / 630

Strength: 28

Speed: 20

Spirit: 35

Magic: 49

Weapon: Goblin Dagger

Armour: Traveller's cloak

Footwear: Leather shoes

Accessory: Isekai ring

Skills: None

Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea.

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak

Gil: 180

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

* * *

 **CHAPTER SEVEN**

 _Joining the Pluto Knights after rough sex_

* * *

I spent close to a week in the castle's infirmary, along with most of the others that had fought that day. Healing magic and potions could only do so much, and those who weren't horribly injured, suffered from extreme fatigue. According the villagers next to me, I had spent the first three days in a coma. Considering how long we were fighting, the injuries I'd gotten, using Trance for the first time, along with being hit by a level 50 monster, I was lucky to be alive.

I will admit, I could have left on the fourth day, but I took advantage of the free bed and a chance to actually rest. Still thanks to the damnable Necromancer, I was able to level up a load, and effectively doubled my strength. As such I had unlocked more spells, but I hadn't gotten around to selecting them yet. I didn't know if people could see menu screens, otherwise I would look crazy, tapping at the empty air. I was in no rush.

The soldiers had already returned to duty, well those that had survived, anyway. As for the villagers, they would be returning to the battle site at a later date to assist with the rebuilding and advising, for now, the state would protect them. It would seem Queen Brahne was actually good at her job, when not slaughtering kingdoms at least, though these were actions of the future.

The following day, I was visited by Emilia, dressed in casual wear, she looked surprisingly feminine and pretty in them for a such a muscular woman when out of her armour. She must be off duty. 'Easy now...' I warned my libido. I always had a thing for strong woman, which often came back to bite me in the arse, as I would never settle down or get married, some took offense to that, despite that I was often upfront about being MGTOW from the start, and strong women punched like men.

"Seems you're awake," noted Emilia, as she took a seat on the edge of my bed. "I was beginning to worry."

"Yep," I grinned. "And it seems you made it to Alexandria in one piece."

"Only just," she replied. "If I hadn't had a few potions to heal me on route..." she trailed off, her meaning obvious, but neither did she want to blame the young fraudster, it had been the right decision. He reacted like a general, despite his fairly low level. She had spoken to Steiner to tell him what happened to his knight, only to learn that while an offer had been made, Mark hadn't actually joined the Pluto Knights yet.

Then why had he insisted on getting involved? Steiner had suggested that the lie was merely a means of preventing her from rejecting his help, perhaps even by habit, men largely avoided the military, women were the warriors in this mighty nation.

 _"Even if it's mostly women who are our warriors here, that doesn't mean us brave few, can't break that stereotype," said Steiner with a wry grin, before adding Mark to his list of recruit(s). If Mark didn't join, he would be punished for impersonating a member of the Alexandrian army, as a courtesy to the foolish traveller who had done them service twice, Steiner backdated it to a day before the Goblin attack. Steiner winked, and she left laughing. When the Queen, Princess, or the General wasn't involved, he was a rather interesting man, when they were, he was ridiculously serious about his role. Mark would probably fit in with the motley crew that was the Pluto Knights._

Mark made her curious, so she decided to spend some time with me, he was an odd mix of polite and cheeky, and casually complimented her beauty and combat prowess with an ease of a ladies' man, but none of the pronounced perversion of one. Emilia found it rather refreshing, men usually didn't usually do such things by habit, they tended to favour being shy or brazen.

Emilia gave Mark a tour of the city, they watched some small shows, tried out some of the local eateries, she then checked out the armoury, as he his sword had broken in the fight, unfortunately, he didn't have quite enough Gil. It was then that she told him about Steiner enlisting him and why. Mark was a little dejected at the thought of being a private, but brightened up at the idea that all soldiers were supplied with iron armour and swords, better if they were higher ranked.

* * *

 _(Two days later...) Mark POV_

* * *

Despite being an almost medieval culture at times, Alexandrian women seemed much more like women from my world, or perhaps the lady soldiers followed similar practices to modern soldiers and sailors on earth, when off duty, get busy. After spending the day with Emilia, she invited me back to her home, when we spent the night, and most of the following morning having one hell of a sex marathon. Because her strength stats were much higher than mine, I ended up losing a third of my HP, and rather sore all over by the end of it. I was fine with rough sex, but I had to admit that my HP taking damage was rather alarming. If this was to be more than a one-off, then I needed to bulk-buy potions or level up in a hurry.

Soaked in sweat and our love making, I drifted off to sleep to the sight of her beautiful green eyes. After being stuck in a very dangerous world, I greatly appreciated the chance to release my pent up stress. 'Thank you, Emilia.'

I awoke many hours later, in the late afternoon, Emilia was still asleep, snoring softly. Now with a moment to myself, I decided to open my menu and see what new magicks were available, as new ones were added each time I levelled up five times.

* * *

 **Black Magic** _(please select one of the following)_

 *** Slow**

 _Slows down target's movements and reactions for battle._

 *** Stop**

 _Stops targets from taking any action for one minute or less._

 *** Osmose**

 _Absorbs MP from the target and transfers it to the spell caster._

* * *

 **White Magic** _(please select one of the following)_

 *** Scan**

 _Scan enemy to determine HP, MP, and weaknesses._

 *** Stona**

 _Removes Petrify and Gradual Petrify._

 *** Protect**

 _Reduces damage from physical attacks._

* * *

With the black magic, the new option of Osmose, was the obvious choice, I could drain my enemies MP, and keep casting my other spells. I selected it. Now for the matter of white magic, that would be more difficult, for this part of the game, with my limited attack options, Scan was still a pointless skill to learn. Stona had some uses, but it was unlikely that I would encounter an enemy with petrify abilities. Protect though, with my low-ish level, being able to reduce damage from physical attacks would be handy. I selected it.

" **Game Alert:** You have learnt Osmose and Protect." All the game menus vanished.

Later after another session with Emilia, and a quick wash, unfortunately not together, I headed to the Alexandrian royal castle, in one section of which, the Pluto Knights were based, best to get this over and done with.

* * *

 _(Back to General POV)_

* * *

Mark was stopped at the gates, and escorted to Steiner, who was in the middle of guard duty of the Princess. Two of his subordinates were with him, not that Mark could recall their names, he wasn't his friend Jonathon, whose game trivia memory was perfect. He looked above their heads. Haagen: Level 10, and Weimar: Level 6.

"Captain," Mark said, with a casual salute.

"So you've arrived," noted Steiner. "We'll work on your salute later," Mark grinned at that remark. Steiner glanced back to Princess Garnet, who was regarding the newcomer with curiosity. "Princess, this is Private Mark, he's a new recruit of the Pluto Knights," said Steiner, gesturing to Mark, who gave a quick, shallow bow. "And this is Princess Garnet, one of the primary charges of the Pluto Knights."

"Princess," Mark said calmly, not bothered by her station as a Princess, as such things didn't hold much sway in his world, and also he had used her character a great deal when playing through the game. Plus she was a fourteen year old kid, what was there to freak out about?

"Alright, go get your equipment and fill out the rest of your paperwork with castle management," Steiner then turned to one of his Knights, and yelled, "Haagen, show him the way!"

"Yes sir!" Haagen yelled back, hurrying over. "Let's go," he muttered to Mark, eager to get out of Princess duty for a bit.

"Long day?" Mark asked, amused.

"Oh God yeah!" complained Haagen, though briefly glancing back to make sure Steiner was out of sight and hearing. "We're supposed to police the castle, and guard the Princess and the Queen, but it's mostly just standing around the kid, being bored, and when we're training, the boss always overdoes it."

"And yet you stick around?" Mark asked as they proceeded down the vast stone hallways, lined with royal artwork.

"While I might complain, what we do is important, if something happened to any of the royalty, we would never hear the end of it, and Alexandria would be in trouble, and I like relaxing by the moat's waters, I couldn't do that without working here," Haagen replied with a wink. "Okay, it's in here."

Mark was led into a small office, where several spectacled people were hard at work with mountains of paperwork. One looked up, a hooked nose, and messy black hair, Adrian: Level 2. "Yes?" he asked as we closed the door behind us.

"New recruit, Captain's already signed him up, but we need to get his wage account and equipment sorted out," replied Haagen.

Adrian sighed. "Sit down, I'll get the paperwork," he made a gesture, and one of his colleagues passed him a stack of papers. "Name?" he asked, holding his quill at the ready.

'So, they fill it in?' thought Mark in surprise, but then given that parts of Gaia were primitive, many people here were probably illiterate. "Mark Green."

"Age?" Adrian asked.

"Twenty-Eight."

'Hmm...A bit old to be joining the military,' thought Adrian, scribbling the number down. "Level?" he asked.

'So it's common knowledge, the level system?' thought Mark in mild surprise. "I'm level ten."

'Oh, same as me,' thought Haagen, as he lounged against one of the walls, waiting for them to finish. 'So he's higher level than most of us?' The Knights of Pluto, by reason of their guard duty, were lower level than normal Alexandrian soldiers, they saw little combat, and most had been low level, normal guys who had joined mostly for the work, most of them goofed off when they were on duty, only a few, himself included, actually tried, and even then it could be tough to focus. It was why he liked relaxing so much by the moats waters, it was relaxing.

Mark spent about twenty minutes answering the questions, making sure to keep up the lie from being from Treno. When that was done, he had an account set up, and each month he would be paid 3000 Gil, and would collect it from the treasury on the 1st day of the month. Unfortunately, he would have to wait a while before his first payment, luckily, Pluto Knights had accommodation within the castle, and three meals a day with the other Alexandrian staff.

The rooms were tiny and basic, and the food for servants was basic but healthy. He would be able to save most of his wages. Calculating the Gil into Sterling, he had a good idea of his wages compared to the real world, while not great, it was about double the minimum wage back home, and had a free place to live, and meals, excellent! It seemed he wouldn't need to worry about eating that goblin meat in his item sack or paying expensive inn rates.

"Okay, lets head to the armoury," said Haagen as they left.

"Thanks, and sorry about the wait," Mark replied.

"It's fine," Haagen replied. "I'd be standing about anyway."

The armoury was tended to by a massively muscular animal person, Frederick: Level 20. I was fitted with an iron helmet, chest plate, metal gauntlets, and armoured shoes and leg guards. It was lighter armour that favoured speed, unlike the full body armour that Steiner wore, but it was still much better that he already had, he was also provided an iron short sword, ideal for him, as he would struggle to use a broadsword effectively.

* * *

 _Acquired: Pluto Knight armour, iron short sword._

* * *

Mark regarded myself in a mirror in the changing room, he pulled off the look rather well, he thought. Though to think he had joined the military. Two years, he would just have to endure two years, and then the game would begin.

'I wonder what skills I can learn from this armour?'

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next chapter: Guarding the Princess_

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(End of Chapter 7)**_

Character class: Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

Level: 10, 163 _xp until next level up_.

HP: 523 / 523

MP: 630 / 630

Strength: 28 (40)

Speed: 20 (15)

Spirit: 35

Magic: 49

Weapon: Iron short sword

Headwear: Iron helm

Armour: Iron armour

Footwear: Iron shoes

Accessory: Iron gauntlets

Skills: None

Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring

Gil: 180

* * *

 _A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, now I've got to get back to work editing the submissions for_ _ **Monsters 'N' Things**_ _, out of amazon, Halloween._

* * *

 _In an unrelated note, if anyone fancies doodling Mark in Pluto armour, PM me a link. :) _Check out an illustration of me in this story's icon.__


	11. Guarding the Princess

**Mark's character stats** _ **(Start of Chapter 8)**_

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 10, 163 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 523 / 523

 **MP:** 630 / 630

 **Strength:** 28 (40)

 **Speed:** 20 (15)

 **Spirit:** 35

 **Magic:** 49

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Iron gauntlets

 **Skills:** None

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring

 **Gil:** 180

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER SEVEN**

 _Guarding the Princess_

* * *

"Holy crap!" Mark yelled rolling back repeatedly to avoid the furious consecutive of Steiner, hitting the stone wall of the practice area, he kicked off, diving forward he narrowly sailed over the captain's follow up swing.

Forward rolling into a standing position, he grabbed his nearby short sword, which Steiner had easily knocked from his grip minutes ago, turning he blocked Steiner's overhead swing, he was forced to one knee, but managed to guard, using his right gauntlet to support the blade as he strained against the older knight's great strength. It hadn't helped that Steiner had used the skill Man eater, which greatly increased how much damage his attack could do against humans.

Suddenly the weight of the attack ceased, and Steiner stepped back, sheathing his blade. "Well done," he acknowledged with a brief nod. "You need to work on protecting your wrist and maintaining a solid grip, but otherwise, you've improved a lot."

Mark grinned a little at the compliment, "Thanks Captain, but you're like twice as strong as me, so sparring with you is still pretty tough."

"Did you want to stop?"

"Hell no!"

"But your next attempt to best me, you'll have to save it for tomorrow, your with me protecting the Princess today," Steiner informed Mark as he scrambled to his feet.

Mark sheathed his short sword, and nodded, "yes, sir!" he looked up to the sun, which was no longer dimly peeking over the sky. It must be around 7am. Time for the princess's wake up call.

The princess's maids would wake, wash, dress, and bring the princess breakfast, overseen by the lady in waiting, meanwhile Mark and Steiner hurried to the door of her chambers. The soldiers who stood watch at night, saw them approach, nodded briefly and left for their much deserved rest. Mark and Steiner took up guard on either side of the princess's bedroom and then they waited to escort the princess on her day.

It had already been a month since Mark taken the post as the Pluto Knight of ten, while he hadn't levelled up as yet, his fitness in general was much improved as a result of Steiner's training, sparring, and running after the princess all day, spending years sitting down writing hadn't helped matters.

He had also learned the basics of Alexandrian sword fighting, which relied upon overhead swings, and four directional slashes, but what made the style interesting was that it used seemingly reckless charges for defence, as weapons struck the fighter's armour, and was deflected by the forward movement combined with angling the edges of the armour and gauntlets, a brilliant method that was ideal for war, but it required a reckless, almost insane courage to risk defence on such a fleeting moment should your blade fail you.

Mark lacked that, but managed it just barely with his fast reactions, he was wasn't mindlessly devoted to the Kingdom and its safety like Steiner or Beatrix. He just needed to survive long enough for the events of the game to unfold, then he would be able level up quickly across their travels until they defeated Kuja and Necron, and then he could go home and give Hironobu the beat down of a lifetime, and enjoy the adulations and riches from decades of writing novels and comics.

An unexpected, or rather forgotten benefit of recent events was that sparring, while low on EXP, filled up the points for skills at about half the rate of random encounters. Iron Helm had taught him Bright eyes and Level up after about a week into his training. It had been quite the boon as he had been given the equipment as part of his employment.

* * *

 **Skill unlocked:** _ **Bright Eyes**_

 _"Immunity to the negative status: darkness, also allows for improved night vision."_

* * *

Being able to see in the dark was handy, Mark had tried it, and found he could see as well as he could in the daylight, though it lacked colour, even in rooms with no light, it worked. As skills were always active, it was very handy. Then of course was the original in game purpose of blocking darkness status effects. What he really liked about it was that he had perfect clarity when fooling around with the lady soldiers when he invited them back to his small room. Candles didn't provide much light in the dead of night, and he liked enjoying the sight of his bed fellows when he had sex.

* * *

 **Skill unlocked:** _ **Level up**_

 _"Level 1.5 times faster than normal."_

* * *

Mark's EXP still increased at a snail's pace, but when he could fight mist monsters, then this skill would really make a difference. But it definitely helped with learning skills. With the only skill now being what the iron sword taught, he was able to learn the Minus Strike after just another two days of sparring, during a particularly gruelling session when he had lost most of his HP, it had unlocked, and Mark had ended up almost killing the captain with the unexpectedly powerful attack. Steiner guarded just barely and was send flying into the wall, cracking it. His armour had taken the damage, but his sword had broken.

* * *

 **Skill unlocked:** _ **Minus Strike - 8MP to cast**_

 _"Deals non-elemental damage equal to the difference between user's max HP and current HP."_

* * *

Steiner had been stunned at first, then irritated that Mark had broken his sword, and Mark finally got a taste of the screaming he was famous for in the game. He calmed down when the princess approached, she had once again snuck out of her more lady-like classes to watch two knights batter each other to pieces.

Garnet found it fascinating, and unlike other women she didn't get to learn how to fight, she was expected to do princess things, she hadn't chosen her station, and she found it profoundly boring. Even when her innate gift for healing magic was discovered, she seldom got to use it, though Beatrix had taught her the three basic spells after much pleading.

Only when someone was hurt in front of her did she get to usually use it. Like now. "Don't worry Steiner, allow me," she said as she approached, laying a hand on him, she whispered, "Cure," a green light enveloped them, and Steiner's injuries and HP recovered. Though she needed to use it several times to fully fill his HP. "There we are, good as new."

"Thank you Princess," he said, flexing his grip.

"You're welcome, Steiner," smiled Garnet.

The young princess glanced to her newest knight, Mark the knight of ten, unlike most of the others, who slacked whenever possible, she found this knight to be capable and hard working, though he conducted himself far more casually than Steiner, any bows were done to the absolute bare minimum, almost insulting to nobility, but she could tell, he saw it as a formality, there was no loyalty, or reverence to the crown. Steiner put her and her mother on a pedestal of greatness, treating her with the utmost formality, while most other men regarded her with barely concealed lust, despite being a few years short of the country's mateable age.

But with Mark, there was none of it, he just saw a child he needed to keep safe because it was his job. As impossible as it seemed, he did not respect or fear the crown. It was fascinating, too most nobles and royalty, a commoner acting as such was practically a crime. But she appreciated the variation he brought to her daily live. He was quick with the banter, never stopped or gave her trouble when she snuck out of lessons or the expected, dreadfully boring 'hobbies' to do things that she actually enjoyed. He'd even given her knife fighting lessons on one occasion, saying that being royal didn't excuse her from being unable to protect yourself.

 _"After all, if Steiner and I get killed, who's to protect you from who knows what, an enemy won't go easy on the ruling class," he grinned evilly, messing her hair in a fatherly way. "It's quite the opposite, actually. So let's catch you up on how to kill a person."_

With the guarding patterns, they hadn't had a chance for a second lesson, but she practiced it alone when she was supposed to be sleeping for an hour or two each night. It gave her a thrill to practice something like this, women were the fighters in this country, and yet she wasn't allowed to undergo the same training. She had a strong gift for healing magic, she was taught the basics only, and seldom allowed to use it, occasionally begging to help inside the castle's infirmary. She felt trapped here, bound by her position as princess, and future Queen of Alexandria. Practicing with the blunt dagger they used in the lesson, gave her a sense of freedom and defiance against her mother.

Regarding Mark as he struggled to his feet, Garnet cast cure on him, he paused, startled, before quickly rising to his full, impressive height.

"Thanks Garnet," he replied with an appreciative smile. He saw the glare from Steiner, and amended, "Princess Garnet." When Steiner left to replace his sword, Mark muttered, "like it matters what I call you, we both know you're a princess already."

She giggled in response.

* * *

Garnet finally finished dealing with her servants and lady-in-waiting, and left her room, as usual Steiner was waiting for her to act as an escort, her mood lifted slightly as she saw she had Mark on guard duty today.

"Good morning," she said to them.

"Good morning, your highness," they replied with formal unison, though it was ruined by a quick wink and thumbs up from the bearded knight of ten, and yet another day of princessing and guarding began.

* * *

"Here you go," said one of the treasury staff, handing over a small bag of gold coins, 3000 Gil, his monthly wage.

Mark quickly counted the coins, it was correct, he signed the documentation to show he had collected his wages, thanked them, and left, thankfully today was his day off, and he finally had the time to explore the city, and do some shopping, not only for skill based items, but clothing in general. The shorts and undershirts they provided to wear under the armour were rough material, and very uncomfortable.

"Here we go," he entered a tailors and ordered black shirts and trousers in the style he favoured, made of cotton, as well as socks, and underwear. It cost extra for his larger than average physique and for material that wasn't sinfully itchy and stiff, but well worth it. It set him back 800 Gil, a lot for non-magical clothing, but something he desperately needed, still considering the quality of what he used to wear, the game equivalent of £400 wasn't too bad, except for shoes, socks and underwear, he likely wouldn't need to shop for clothes again in the two year period...he hoped. He would collect them later that day, they had many staff, and they worked remarkably fast.

After that, Mark then visited the cobblers and brought two pairs of black shoes, well closer to boots, but they were comfortable and sturdy, they made them in an hour, after taking a huge number of measurements. Even without having extra wide, size 16 shoes, stores that sold premade shoes didn't exist in Alexandria, the only exception were magical equipment items, which apparently changed to fit the wearer. They set him back another 380 Gil.

After that, he had a quick lunch at the pub, which set him back 5 Gil, which included an almost warm ale, but still it was his first drink of anything alcoholic since he arrived on Gaia. While there, he spotted Alleyway Jack, but avoided the card playing pickpocket for obvious reasons.

Then finally was the time to visit the equipment shops and armouries. He swung by the Synthesis store in the off-chance, but like in the game, he couldn't enter it. It was locked, a sign hung in the window _'closed indefinitely due to family emergency'_ so this was how it would work, until an adult Garnet returned to become Queen, it would likely remain like this...Disk 3, 4, he couldn't remember. Then Lindblum was his first chance at getting Synthesized weapons.

"Never mind, this short sword is pretty good." He checked out the equipment stores and armouries, very few things were better than his weapon, and were very expensive for his current circumstances. But he found Mythril Gloves, they cost nearly a thousand Gil, but besides the superior metal and defence they offered, they also allowed him to begin learning **Man Eater** and **Bug Killer**. These skills allowed him to do an 1.5 damage against humans and bug type monsters, ideally he would find all these killer type skills, as it added quite the edge, he was still pretty weak after all.

When he returned in the evening to collect his clothes, he discovered they had found a silk shirt for him, the magical kind that taught the spell Cure. Using the gaming sight he possessed, he saw a green dot next to the skill, he could learn it. They let him have it for only a hundred Gil. As long as he wore the shirt, he could use Cure, that would be difficult as it was fabric, and something that needed laundering. So he made sure to wash and wear it as much as possible. Two months later he would unlock the spell and no longer need the item, though he still wore it on occasion, silk was pleasant to wear after all.

Mark was worried by the lack of level ups, but for now he would be patient, he was learning skills all the time, and perhaps he could convince Steiner to let him tag along with the women on monster killing missions. If he could just get to at least level 20 by the time the game came... If he could just level up once every two months, he could make it.

He hoped.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _ **Next chapter: Six months and only one level up!**_

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(End of Chapter 8)**_ _Some new stats have been added._

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 10, 96 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 523 / 523

 **MP:** 630 / 630

 **Strength:** 28 (40)

 **Speed:** 20 (15)

 **Spirit:** 35 (36)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 20 (40)

 **Magic:** 49

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 10 (30)

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Mythril Gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike, _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 915

* * *

 _Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait, I've only got until the end of November to finish this book I've been asked to do, it's the sequel to the_ _ **Secret Yuuki: Dimension Wars.**_ _It's full title is_ _ **Secret Yuuki & the Starlight Alliance**_ _. As such my other fanfiction stories will suffer delays. But I'll get back to it as soon as possible, help me out by getting a copy of Secret Yuuki on amazon today. :)_

 _As for this ff9/grey faction story, I'll try to do it as often my schedule allows. Have a wonderful day everyone._


	12. Six months and only one level up!

_**A/N: I'm currently confirmed for the two Brighton comic cons and one in Chichester, hope to see you there, I'll be selling Jinhai's Justice, a comic based off my first professionally published novel. (£5 a copy, no charge for signature, cos I'm not a dick.) If you can't come or are out the country, you can get a copy on amazon kindle and Barnes &Noble. It's £1-2 for the E-Book/kindle.**_

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(Start of Chapter 9)**_ _Some new stats have been added._

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 10, 96 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 523 / 523

 **MP:** 630 / 630

 **Strength:** 28 (40)

 **Speed:** 20 (15)

 **Spirit:** 35 (36)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 20 (40)

 **Magic:** 49

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 10 (30)

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Mythril Gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 915

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER NINE**

 _Six months and only one level up!_

* * *

Half a year passed sluggishly, the work was mind numbingly boring, if it wasn't for his circumstances, Mark wouldn't have bothered working. Sadly he needed the money and security it brought. He had gotten to the point he would win at win a third of his spars with the higher levelled Steiner, that was mostly due to his knowing far more fighting styles and it not being to the death. The Captain only smiled when he lost, and then worked him that much harder. The Princess continued to sneak about, and he continued to not interfere, the poor girl deserved a little freedom now and then, regardless to her position as royalty. He managed to give her a few more lessons on using a knife, and one on footwork, it was surprising how many knife fighters over focused on the weapon and forgot everything else, sure a blade was scary, but if the attacker only used that, then it was fairly easy to deal with.

One rather delightful perk was that he was building a rather good reputation among the women in the castle. Apparently Earth men were much more capable sexually than the dark age men of Alexandria. Porn and advanced anatomy knowledge was quite the boon. Or simply he had finally built up enough experience over the decades to get the job done right. With most people's experience being limited to marriage, he had a definite advantage. If not for that, the boredom and stress from being a knight would have driven him crazy, he was sure. After all, he was a writer and yet he was kept from his beloved profession in favour of something far more physically taxing. Books were worth their weight in gold here, the nobles and merchants read, so there wasn't the customer base in this country to be a writer, nor the support to have books copied, sold, etc... It was this lack that likely made plays so popular here from the royalty down to the commoners.

'Heh, commoners, like I'm not one myself.' Mark internally chuckled as he stood about two meters to the right of the Princess's right she was being measured for a new dress, apparently she was to go on a state visit with her mother next month and it was to be made in the local style. Given Alexandrian dresses, particularly the royal ones, were rather lovely, it seemed her majesty had an inferiority complex in regards to the technological and cultural superiority that was Lindblum, in many ways it was on par with a city in his original world, their airships were awesome, though they lacked electricity, their use of mist to power technology that was centuries ahead of the other nations was very impressive, though it was mostly limited to travel and weaponry. Still he loved the air ships, unlike the superior plane, there was a rather delightful and adventurous charm about these mist powered crafts. He looked forward to flying on Baku's...well before it crashed into evil forest anyway.

"Well, your highness," said the castle's head seamstress, several pins handing dangerously from her mouth, with no fear of the choking hazard, something that never failed to unsettle Mark, even in his own world, before making it as a writer, he had spent seven years selling overpriced suits and high end brands catering to big and tall men at a place in Brighton, he also shopped there. Still even then... pins in the mouth, gross.

"Yes?" Garnet replied.

"I've got all of your measurements, we'll let you know when it's ready," the Seamstress replied. Claudia, level 6, it read above her head, at least to Mark's eyes.

"Of course, thank you for your time," Garnet replied, stepping down from the stool. She went off to get back into her usual attire, while Mark patiently waited with Claudia.

"So you're the new knight I've been hearing about?" she asked as she put away her tapes, and finally spitting out the pins. Mark was glad for that, but he didn't like the look she was giving him.

"Yes, ma'am," Mark politely replied.

"I'll trust you keep your hands to yourself," she said. Mark gave her a puzzled look, so it wasn't the Goblin attack or the circumstances in which he joined the Knights of Pluto, but of his rather impressive run of sexual conquests. Though conquests implied he never got approached, which was far from the truth, especially lately. Some of the single knights of Pluto, had gotten quite jealous on the matter. One had painted his armour pink. Hours of scrubbing aside, it had actually been quite funny.

Claudia was a severe looking woman, a little older than what he usually went for, but not out of his strike range, but then he hadn't paid her much attention, so what was she talking about? "You're not really my type, so don't worry," he replied.

That served to irritate her more, but not for the reason he would have thought.

"I expect you to behave around the Princess, remember your -!" Mark had drawn his sword and had it inches from her throat, she froze, eyes wide. He instantly realised what she had meant, because he was something of a ladies' man in this world, that meant he was a danger to the Princess, but this world's age of consent aside, if they weren't legal by his country's standards, in his original world, then they could fuck off.

"Don't forget your place," Mark said with deceptive calm, while his grey eyes burning into her brown ones. "I am a knight, a protector, if you imply such a thing again, your head will leave your shoulders, do you understand?"

She nodded.

He sheathed his sword, a faintly steely his to accompany the action.

"She is a child in my eyes, Claudia, before being a princess, before being pretty, that is what is important, I am probably old enough to be her father, and it is my job to protect her, I will never do such a thing."

"I apologise, but we've had many problems with male soldiers in the past, it is one of the reasons that since the King's death, this kingdom's military has been almost exclusively female, save for Steiner and his unit as he is one of our most famous soldiers. But you are an outsider, and Treno is a city of crime and corruption, and that is your place of birth..."

"Someone put you up to this, didn't they?" Mark said in realisation, a little of his anger dwindling.

Her eyes widening slightly. So he was right. Beatrix maybe? Her little sister had been talking to him a lot as of late, that could be it, the General had knocked him out for saving the brat, she got too jealous and overprotective far too easily, or maybe someone just didn't trust a bodyguard of a young girl that slept with anything (legal) that was up for it. Probably that.

"Tch!"

Mark turned to the changing rooms at the other side of the room, their words had been little more than harsh whispers, hopefully she hadn't heard anything.

"Observe and test all you like, I'm just here to do my job," his hand absently brushed the hilt of his short sword. "But my earlier threat still holds." Mark then raised his voice, "Princess, are you ready?"

No answer.

Mark glanced to her, "check, please."

She passed, giving him a wide berth, she pulled back the dividing cloth a little, and then swore, she yanked it back to show me. The Princess was not there. She must have heard their argument, and used it as a chance to sneak away. For once Mark wasn't pleased about her sneaking off.

"Bugger!"

* * *

Garnet had spent a good hour or so swimming in the moat that divided the castle from the rest of the walled city before Steiner found her, with Mark hanging on the larger knight's back by the scruff of his shirt, like some human sized sack of pickles. After finally giving into Steiner's calls, she returned to land, shivering but exhilarated, her clothes stuck to her like a second skin, as she didn't like the idea of getting caught without. It was remarkable how much water her shoes could absorb, squelching all the way. Her happiness dimmed slightly when she saw the nasty bruise on Mark's cheek, and much of it was badly swollen, he had been hit because she had snuck off while he guarded her alone during her fitting. Usually she delighted in her small rebellions, for once she felt bad.

* * *

"He appears to be safe to continue as one of the main guards for the Princess, your Majesty," said Claudia as she knelt before the Queen. "Even when in her undergarments, he kept focused on myself, evaluating me as a possible threat, when I made a slight accusation he immediately grasped my full meaning and grew angry with me, but coolly dismissed my accusations and affirmed his loyalty to the crown. He also drew a sword on me, and in his gaze I saw that I had deeply offended him, enough that he considered killing me, I do not believe it was an act. We do not need to worry, despite the rumours of his being a ladies' man, he doesn't target women below a certain age, from the women we know have slept with him, this age is no younger than twenty, and most were closer to thirty."

"Good, most of the Pluto knights are incompetent, having another that is reliable is most helpful," replied Queen Brahne. "But when it comes to my beloved daughter..." she trailed off.

"Of course, your majesty," replied Claudia. "I understand, I have children myself, we do get a little over protective."

After the seamstress left, the Queen chuckled to herself. 'Beloved daughter? It isn't even mine.' Recalling when the child and dead mother had washed up on the shore. Her husband, always too kind for his own good had adopted her and hidden her true origins, annoyingly removing her summoner's horn. But it would not hinder her plans at all. When a virgin of the summoner tribe turned sixteen years, they awakened to their Eidolon, or Eidolons in Garnet's case, she had many of them slumbering within her, including the mightiest, Bahamut the dragon king.

For that reason the purity of her daughter was essential, at least until her mages Zorn and Thorn conducted the extraction ritual after the public birthday celebrations, at the stroke of midnight to make sure they didn't try to early, she would be drained, and her mind wiped of the experience, and she would never know the power she had held. Then she could be married off to some noble, perhaps even to Kuja, the Treno noble who had been helping her with new weapons, the artificial black mages.

Black mages were the deadliest type of magic user and thanks to Kuja's methods they could now be mass produced, no more would she need to risk her fellow women, and when these soldiers died, no one cried, no one cared, for they were little more than dolls powered by mist, the dregs of souls. These black mages would give her the edge against the other nations of the mist continent, and with the power to summon, Brahne could use fear to keep them beneath her heel, and one day even the landmasses beyond the mist, the ultimate empire. With that power, even the mighty Kuja could be easily handled, if he was foolish enough to challenge her down the line, she expected it in fact.

"Only eighteen months to go," the Queen mused. So much and so little time.

* * *

 _ **(The Queens Ann pub, the west lows)**_

Mark, not wearing his armour, though he kept a Goblin dagger strapped to his belt - just in case, and was currently in the midst of his twenty-third cup of mead, or grog, or whatever the cheap swill was, but at least the cups were huge, easily a pints worth by modern terms. The alcohol content was not especially high, but he had drunk continuously for the last few hours, and managed a pleasant level of drunkenness, not merriment as he was still in a terrible mood. It had been the Queen of all things that had prompted the seamstress, they wanted to test his body language to seeing the Princess partially undressed, and his reaction to being accused. It seemed that now he was trusted to do his job, and he appreciated that it was guarding a princess, but it really, really, really pissed him off. As a teen, he often got worried looks from women, just because they walked in the same direction, it annoyed him then and it annoyed him now. The lack of trust, the assumption that he was dangerous, well he was, but not the reason they thought, combat dangerous, not sexually, and until his twenties he had always been extremely shy when around women he fancied or just found extremely attractive. No danger there.

'No!' he thought shaking his mind from that line of thought, today's events had angered him greatly, and thinking about home made him sad. Mark downed the lot, and immediately ordered another. He went another hour before calling it quits, stumbling about on unsteady feet, he made his way back. He passed several building and took a right towards one of the smaller side entrances for servants, the soldiers would likely reject him at the main gates, the cold air would hopefully sober him enough. He paused to throw some of it up, and went on his way, and then - !

Suddenly he was struck heavily from behind and crumpled to the cobblestones, dazed he looked up to see several of the local pick pockets standing over him, one had been in the pub, so the Mark had been marked, he'd spent enough money that they assumed he was worth robbing. Then the adrenaline kicked in, and he booted one in the leg, something cracked, they screamed and dropped, he drew his goblin dagger and slashed them against the chest. Mark tried to get up, but he was hit in the head again and the dagger kicked from his grip, he tried to cast a healing spell, but they stomped that idea away.

And for the first time since he got here, he truly snapped and lost control of himself, he felt a surge of power as his fury leant him strength.

* * *

 _ **Trance activated!**_

* * *

His body glowed briefly, his hair lengthening, flowing like it was alive, they paused, startled. A mistake. Balmung came flooding from his body, three quick slashes and the mythic weapon from his Grey Faction books faded away and their bodies crumpled to the floor in a bloody heap. Dead.

 _Game Alert: 400 XP gained, level up to 11. 2441xp until next level up._

"Just like that..." Mark muttered in shock at the almost forgotten chime in his head as he levelled up. He cast Cure on himself and his injuries disappeared. He ran away and quickly made his way back to the castle, the fight and healing spell had burned away his buzz so he was let back in no problem, thankfully his shirt was black and in the dim light the blood stains were not noticeable.

It was hours later, as dawn approached, after washing himself and his bloody clothes, when it really occurred to him, when he had save the general's sister, he had gotten a lot of experience points, and earlier today, the same thing happened, he levelled up. Humans were no different from monsters, he could use both for level grinding.

'I can still do it,' he thought, make it to a high enough level to do something. It would require killing humans, but this wasn't his world, and if he kept an eye out for criminals when not on duty, he could save a lot of time, and make the world a better place. He had always thought his world's legal systems were too soft, in the world of magic and swords, he could play at judge, juror, and executioner. How was he supposed to save the world if he was low level? There were plenty of human enemies in this game, and the black mages were arguably human as well. What was the harm?

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next chapter: The back street killer_

* * *

 _A/N: Hi guys, thanks for being patient, hope you enjoyed this new chapter. Story's finally ramping up to something darker, and of course the state visit, so cometh Cid!_

 _BTW: I'm looking for some possible OC ideas, if you want to be in the story as a minor character, let me know, I will need a lot of OCs over the next 4 - 5 chapters. They'll need to be one of the following:_

 _Female Alexandrian soldiers, any of the staff on the Red Rose, kitchen workers, engineers, (any gender) Cid's servants, knights, etc..._

 _Name of Character:_

 _Name of person who submitted idea:_

 _Physical description of character:_

 _Personality description of character:_

 _Preferred job/role in story:_

* * *

 **Mark's character stats** _ **(End of Chapter 9)**_

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 11, 2441 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 576 / 576

 **MP:** 687 / 693

 **Strength:** 28

 **Speed:** 22

 **Spirit:** 39

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 22

 **Magic:** 53

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 11

 **Weapon:**

 **Headwear:**

 **Armour:**

 **Accessory**

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 743


	13. The backstreet killer

**Mark's character stats** _ **(Start of Chapter 10)**_

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 11, 2441 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 576 / 576

 **MP:** 687 / 693

 **Strength:** 28

 **Speed:** 22

 **Spirit:** 39

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 22

 **Magic:** 53

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 11

 **Weapon:**

 **Headwear:**

 **Armour:**

 **Accessory**

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 743

* * *

 _Hi all, as mentioned in the previous chapter, I'm looking for OCs for future chapters, if you want to be in the story as a minor character, let me know, as I will need a lot of OCs over the next 4 - 5 chapters. They'll need to be one of the following:_

 _Female Alexandrian soldiers, or any of the staff on the Red Rose, kitchen, engineer, (any gender) Cid's servants, knights, etc... and I promise not to let my OC bone any of your OCs. Unless you want him to. ;) Just kidding. At least I figure that's one reason that I've only got one OC so far. Otherwise I'd have to accept I'm not that popular an author, and we can't be having that, can we?_

 _ **Name of Character:**_

 _ **Name of person who submitted idea:**_

 _ **Physical description of character:**_

 _ **Personality description of character:**_

 _ **Preferred job/role in story:**_

* * *

Here is the first OC I have received, and will be appearing in this chapter as well as another later.

 _ **Name of Character:**_ Saria _ **  
**_

 _ **Name of person who submitted idea:**_ Sage (NemesisNecrosis)

 _ **Physical description of character:**_ 5'10", shoulder-length copper hair, pale freckled skin, pale green eyes. Runner's build.

 _ **Personality description of character:**_ Kind, the sort of person who buys food to give to street kids even on a limited budget. Wry, somewhat black humour, a self-aware sort of person, realistic, tries not to be cynical where others can hear. Can be caught in wistful moods, but usually pushes that back in favour of getting shit done. Was a street kid herself, pretty good with knives and at sneaking around.

 _ **Preferred job/role in story:**_ Eh, wherever she'd fit. Go wild. Or not.

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER TEN**

 _The backstreet killer_

* * *

 _(Mark POV)_

It has been another month since the rather twisted idea to hunt criminals for experience points in lieu of mist monsters had occurred to me, and I have found it to be a surprisingly unsettling task. I have killed so many times since coming to this world. Goblins mostly, but on several occasions, actual people. But I noticed that without my life or another's being in danger, it leaves me shaking afterwards.

I thought myself more detached, or rather mentally and emotionally stronger, but clearly this isn't the case. As without my instincts or rage, I cannot ignore what it is, and that is cold blooded murder.

The fact that they were criminals helped with the guilt, I had copies of wanted posters, and when not working, or my days off, I actively hunted them. I actually prevented several crimes while looking, not anything serious though, a few brawls and thefts. It made people think more highly of me, but it denied me more kills.

Nevertheless, I have managed to level up three times in the last month, except for the Hobgoblin incident, this is the fastest I've managed to level up in a short period. But it's hard, not simply in terms of resolve, but the physical strain. One does not simply stumble from one criminal to next, there's a lot of work involved, and as a Knight of Pluto, the hours were long and tiring. I doubt I could keep doing this and my job without just dropping from exhaustion some day. I'll probably take a break soon, if not just for my health, but the risk of other soldiers catching and imprisoning me.

I regarded my Status as I strolled the backstreets of Alexandria, returning to the castle, I'd stopped for a few beers, sadly it had been a quiet night for crime, and I knew through experience not to waste my time. Time for an early night, or at least early by my standard.

* * *

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 14, 4199 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 844 / 844

 **MP:** 998 / 998

 **Strength:** 40 (52)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 48 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 30 (50)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 2458

* * *

 _(Normal POV)_

'Hmm…One more level up, and my MP will hit maximum, or at least that was the case within the game.' But of course that didn't apply to monsters, Kuja, in their brief passing of each other showed he was about ten times stronger than that. 'But that's what strategy and teams are for…' Still unlike games, it wasn't turn based combat. Fights here were hard and brutal, and ended with blood and death. There was no resetting your playstation here. At least with the following month's pay, he had brought twenty potions, at 50 Gil per bottle. They restored 150 HP in battle, and 100 HP outside of battle, Mark assumed that it must use adrenaline levels to trigger the battle bonus, otherwise the potions would have to be sentient, as it wouldn't make sense to make the potion weaker outside of battle when the wounded needed it more post combat.

The entrance for the servants and soldiers was guarded as usual by two guards, the area well lit by torches. Mark noticed as he headed for the barracks that he recognised one of them, it was Carrie: Level 15, a lady he occasionally entertained, and another he didn't recognise. But that wasn't unusual, Alexandria had many territories and guarding stations, and everyone was rotated back and forth between those other territories and the walled city that Queen Brahne called home. Carrie had been out of the city for close to a month now.

Mark glanced briefly to the name and level that hovered above the other soldier's head by habit. Saria: Level 14. The small black star emblem on her helm, declared her part of the mage corps, to which most black magic users in Alexandria belonged, and at level fourteen, Saria likely knew the quartet of basic spells, and like most black mages, that meant she was stronger than him, at least as long as she kept him at long range with offensive spells. But then they all wore armour, even those in the mage corps, and all learnt how to use a sword, spear, dagger, sling, and bow. It had been the same for him, he sucked at using a sling and bow.

It didn't bother him though about still being a weaker character, as once the game started, and he joined Zidane and the others, he would level up quickly and gain status based spells that could kill quickly like Bio, Demi, or even Ultima and Holy if the whole 'your magic is based on Asag and Adel' thing was true. As high as his MP and magic stats were, without some strong offensive spells, he'd always be rather lacking. At least he had Osmose, Cure and Regen, with those he could keep fighting and fighting, and he continued to gain old skills from his original body.

Saria was slightly shorter than himself, with copper hair peeking beneath her helm, pale, freckled skin, which was common with true red heads, slender with a runner's build, though the armour made that a bit tough to see. Yep, he definitely didn't know this women, nor had he the time or energy to flirt with the new Alexandrian soldier.

"Morning, Carrie!" he called friendlily, lifting his helm as he approached.

"Oh, Mark, your back early today, no evil villains to slay?" Carrie joked.

"Just a few Grand Dragons, but no villains to slay, I may have to resort to drunkards to wet my blade," Mark joked back, as the guards knew he often went on night time walks and seldom returned smelling of booze. If only she knew how right their joking was.

"Well, I finish my shift in an hour, so I might be able to help you with your 'sword' problem," she grinned.

Mark flushed slightly at the unexpected innuendo, most of them rarely propositioned him in front of other soldiers. Saria looked mildly surprised, but thankfully didn't comment on it in that moment, but her raised eyebrows spoke volumes. "Sure, I always appreciate your expertise in 'that' area. You know where to find me," Mark replied, pretending that she hadn't caught him off guard.

After Mark passed through security, and headed inside the castle towards the Pluto Knights rooms. Saria turned to Carrie, and said in a wry tone, "I think you can do better, Carrie."

"What do you mean?"

"Well your last lover was much more handsome," Saria said, still surprised as Carrie was usually more reserved around whatever man she was with, at least with others present, and yet she had been so flirty with the new Pluto Knight.

"A man is more than his looks," Carrie dismissed, she'd actually thought that her ex Bradley was too good looking, almost like a girl, and just as soft as the stereotype that so irritated the almost all-female army, sure her ex was a decent enough lover, but the Pluto Knight was far more capable in that area, and much more fun to talk to.

Mark was all the good things about being a man from her perspective, with none of the negatives that plagued most of the men in this city, he was strong, confident, brave, intelligent, and while a little cocky, never belittled women. Carrie had seen him in action during the Goblin invasion, despite being lower leveled than most of them, he had kept fighting, even badly wounding the Hobgoblin Necromancer that General Beatrix had to be called in to defeat, and his strategies had brought them a lot of extra time.

He had begged her to keep quiet about his trance when she had brought it up, she had convinced the others to do the same. Trance users were rare, she only knew of six people in the city who could do it, and Mark's was probably the strongest.

Not that strength was all it took to attract her, he was simply a nice person, even when he first tried wooing her, when she said she wasn't interested, he hadn't pestered her, gotten aggressive, the normal responses. Mark had only smiled, and thanked her for her time, not in the least offended. That had made her mildly curious, then she started hearing lots of positive 'reviews' from other women working in the castle, not just about being a good sexual partner, but how he treated them in general, he was a rare example of a gentlemen among the male knights, she ultimately approached him, much to his amusement.

He was about a decade older than the men she usually went for, but he was fairly attractive in a rugged sort of way, and the black hair and grey eyes was a rather nice look, though she was glad when he shaved off the beard, it tickled a little too much during 'certain' activities. _"That's one reason I grew it,"_ he had said with a wink, making her blush. She hadn't missed the slight flush of his cheeks earlier, and knew it would fun to tease him about it later.

"Perhaps so," Saria conceded in response to Carrie. "But isn't he the one I've been hearing about, the middle-aged pervert that's been sleeping with all the soldiers in the castle."

"Ha!" Carrie laughed. "Despite how he looks, he's in his thirties, and if he's a pervert he's kept it well hidden." And though he had slept with about twenty or so Alexandrian soldiers, most of those were one night stands. Only a few saw him with any regularity. "Besides, I'm a soldier, I could die tomorrow. It's the same for most of us, we don't worry about marriage or having children. A casual partner who gives a damn is ideal."

"Fair enough," Saria shrugged, it was different for her. She had someone she loved, who was loyal to her despite sometimes being out of the city for months at a time. She had grown up in the orphanage in the northern section of the city, she stayed at his place or there when in the city, with much of her wages going to helping the people who raised her and the new generation of kids living there.

Thanks in part to Saria looking out for homeless kids, the number of kids living there had increased beyond what they could fund themselves, so she helped financially. As a corporal of the mage corps, she made a good living. But everyone had to do guard duty at some point, even Lieutenants and captains, but she didn't mind it, as it meant no mist monsters.

* * *

 _(Scene change: Backstreets of Alexandria, several hours later.)_

It was carnage, the streets in the far south sector were covered in the dead, soldiers, civilians, human and demi alike. Some had been stabbed to death, others electrocuted and burned, the cobblestones ran red with blood. The figure responsible was short and stout, little could be see of his features due to the deep dark of night, save for a glowing pair of yellow eyes.

 **"KILL!"**

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next chapter: Saved by luck_

* * *

 _Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the new chapter, even if it was a transitory based chapter. Any ideas on who this glowing eyed killer is? Just kidding. It's pretty obvious, or is it? I originally planned to have my OC go full serial killer, but I prefer the route I took on that._

 _After the next chapter or two, we will be skipping to one year after I/Mark got transported to Gaia, just in time for the Lindblum arc._

 _We've got about seven chapters left on disk zero and the game starts. I'll be taking a break then to spend more time of_ _ **Grey Faction 3: Immortal's Dawn.**_ _But I plan to continue through the game. Got some great ideas planned._

 _Alright then, that's it. I won't be putting the end of chapter status as usual as we showed it already in the chapter and no fights occurred after that. Thank god, you're probably all thinking._

* * *

 _And as always, be sure to check out some of my more recent novels and comics, just search the titles on amazon, lulu, or barnes &noble._

 _Many of these have Mark/Dingir in them._

 _ **Grey Faction 2: Mistaken Apostle**_

 _ **Grey Faction comic: Volume 1: Jinhai's Justice**_ _(re-release)_

 _ **Grey Faction comic: School Wars: chapter 1**_ _(free to download)_

 _ **Secret Yuuki & the guilty heart chronicles: The Dimension War**_

 _ **Secret Yuuki & the guilty heart chronicles: The Starlight Alliance**_ _(novella with artwork throughout, and very short comic at back)_

 _ **Vampire Attack: Empire of Shadows**_ _(100 page novella + 3 comics) sequel to Symphony of Darkness game._

* * *

 _Okay, now I'm really done. Have a great morning/afternoon/evening or whatever time you read this._


	14. Blacksmith and the captain

_A/N: I received a review with a character suggestion, I've decided to use them in the later disks as the synthesis shop owner, however due to war preparations, he is overworked mass producing steel and Mythril weapons along with all the other blacksmiths, and as such, the synthesis shop is currently closed, now we have a reason for it in the game. Otherwise the OC of myself would just save up for half a year and buy all the best equipment for strong abilities, skills, and stats ahead of his level and the timeline. He is employed directly by the castle and has the backing of the royalty, which allowed him to open a shop within the city._

 _Still this means we don't see the blacksmith for quite some time, though he will appear briefly in some chapters prior to that, so I decided to write a short bonus chapter revolving around this character and Steiner, ref review below. Anyway! Enjoy this bonus chapter, I'll do chapter 11 as soon as time allows._

* * *

Sent by: LinkKokiriFan94

Hi, just wanted to say this is a great story so far and that I like it. As for an OC, my idea is an old blacksmith named Darius. He is a massive man, standing over a head taller than even Steiner and is covered in both many battle scars and massive muscles. When he was younger, Darius used to be an impressive Warrior and Mercenary of great skill and power before suffering an injury that forced him to retire. However instead of hanging up his hammer, he instead took it up again, but this time as a blacksmith, learning from some of the best blacksmiths in the world before becoming the Head Blacksmith of Alexandria. My idea is Darius could be Steiner's old mentor and/or friend that actually got him his job as a Pluto Knight in the first place.

* * *

 **Start of Chapter:**

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 14, 4199 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 844 / 844

 **MP:** 998 / 998

 **Strength:** 40 (52)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 48 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 30 (50)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 2458

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER 10.5 bonus**

 _The blacksmith and the captain_

* * *

The blacksmiths of Alexandria typically owned their own smithies or stores, however, as of a year ago, her majesty had gathered up all the best of them to work in the castle, mass-producing swords, armour, and other tools of war alongside the castle's usual smithies, typically this was a prelude to war, the stocking up of weapons in excess of their needs.

 _Clang!_

However the Queen had provided no information for the sudden weapon demand, but surely that must be the case, even though the rebellion of the city-states some twenty years ago was old history, those involved, along with the mercantile and noble backers had been eliminated. So why make these preparations now?

 _Clang!_

Alexandria had no real threats within its borders and had either neutrality or allied with other nations on the mist continent, the number of mist monsters had also stayed at a manageable level. But still each day, he made swords, instilling them with magic with each strike on his anvil, but steel and Mythril could only provide basic boosts or skills, but every little helped.

 _Clang!_

Others worked noisily around him, he ignored them, remaining focused on his work, adding 'Man Eater' to all the swords required focus, a skill that increased ones killing potential against fellow humans, it also applied to the various demi-humans that lived across the world. The skill had no effect on mist monsters however. These weapons were to be used to kill only humans.

 _Clang!_

The blacksmith knew that war was coming with their neighbouring countries, but who would be invading, her majesty, or another ruler? It was likely to be them, it concerned him, however he was only a blacksmith, even without his injuries, he would not need to fight, as since the King's death, men had been mostly phased out of the army, keeping only a token force called the Pluto Knights for her protection and that of her daughter. But with so many soldiers in the castle, they weren't really needed.

 _Clang!_

Once the Pluto knights had been legendary, on par with the likes of the Dragoons, but that was no longer the case, and after he could no longer fight, and after Beatrix was promoted to general, the only competent knight left there was a young man he had serving under him at the time, the now captain, Steiner.

 _Clang!_

The ranks had been filled by ordinary men, those utterly lacking in talent with the blade, and some not even trying at their roles, only whipped into a frenzy when Steiner put his impressive shouting to good use. But the Pluto Knights were now just a token force, it bothered him, but with each change of ruler, the kingdom could change drastically. Brahne and the King had ruled together, but she had been the more ruthless of the two, and he the more gentle.

 _Clang!_

Now since his death due to an unknown disease, that no white magic or medicine could fix, the Queen had only grown fatter, colder, and more ruthless. Removing all the men made no sense, most races employed both genders, not discriminating as death comes to all during war. Yes, there had been problems but executing rapists within the army would have stopped things so much more easily, and left the Queen with a much larger army.

 _Clang!_

"Well, it doesn't matter, anymore…" Darius the blacksmith sighed with a final strike with his armour, dunking the sword into the water vat to cool with a loud hiss.

"Introspection isn't good for you," noted a familiar deep voice.

Darius looked up startled to see Steiner standing in front of his forge.

"Oh, Steiner what brings you here?" he asked, eyes flickering automatically to the dents in Steiner's full suit of armour. It had been done with a small weapon, but with a huge amount of force.

"Good to see you Darius, I need some minor repairs to my armour," Steiner said. "And also, this…" he drew his sword, it had been broken.

"Jeez, are the Pluto Knights actually seeing combat again?" Darius grinned.

"Sadly no, this is the result of a spar," Steiner answered.

"You throw down with Beatrix again?" Darius enquired, despite Steiner's skill, Beatrix was still three of four times stronger than Steiner, and twice as strong as he had been in his prime, she was a rare talent. "You'll never catch up to her while not fighting on the front lines."

"No, a new recruit did this," Steiner admitted.

Darius paused in removing the cooling sword from the water to set aside with the others. "R-Really?" he stuttered in complete surprise. Someone new was actually competent?

"Indeed."

"Details," Darius pressed.

"Can you fix my sword today?"

"Nah, its buggered, grab one of my new steel broadswords over there," Darius said, gesturing vaguely to the far wall. Steiner headed over and pulled out a few, finding one whose balance and weight suited his preference.

"So who's the new guy then?" Darius asked as Steiner returned to his forge.

"His name is Mark Green, from Treno, a bit older than what we usually accept, but he's been doing well so far, if he keeps it up, I'm thinking of promoting him," Steiner said. "It's been years since someone above the mental and physical capacity of a Private has joined the Pluto Knights."

"Mark…" the name sounded familiar, Darius recalled some of the soldiers collecting replacement weapons after a goblin horde had destroyed an outpost. A traveller with that name had apparently killed a lot of Goblins and was being praised by women who often looked down on men. "That the one from the Goblin attack?"

"Correct, he did well from what I hear, even Beatrix was impressed, however begrudgingly," Steiner chuckled.

"Ha! She's always been a bit man-hating, someone other than us being good at our jobs must annoy the Hell out of her."

"Most likely."

"Well maybe I should check this fellow out myself when time allows," he got up, limping over to the wall to put away his finished sword with the stacks of others he had made. Around them other blacksmiths worked in the unified banging of their hammers and forges. "See what he's got."

Steiner almost offered to take the sword for him, but knew it would be considered an insult. His eyes flickered sadly to the Mythril peg leg that Darius now used to walk, a dragon had torn off his original left leg back when Steiner was still just a new recruit. Despite the mobility issues, Darius was still two or three times stronger than most veteran soldiers in Alexandria, and still in the top five of their finest warriors. Sadly, he could no longer be used for war, the marching, and mobility were essential parts of war, if only in placement of forces.

Steiner used Scan by habit to see Darius's stats, his former captain often overworked himself despite being a cripple by most people's standards.

* * *

 **Name:** Darius Bolg

 **Age:** 62

 **Character class:** Pluto Knight (retired) / Master Blacksmith

 **Level:** 48

 **HP:** 3000 / 3953

 **MP:** 86 / 322

 **Strength:** 99 (92)

 **Speed:** 99 (33)

 **Spirit:** 42 (37)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 50

 **Magic:** 45

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 20

* * *

His level and several stats had gone down again, Darius was getting old now, and missing a leg it affected him heavily. Sadly cure could not replace lost limbs, Steiner deactivated the skill as Darius turned around.

"Well?"

"Hmm? Of course, by all means."

Ultimately however, due to the amount of work expected of him, it would be many months before they would meet.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next chapter: Saved by luck_

* * *

Thanks for reading this everyone.

 _(author news)_

For those of you in the south of England, I will be selling **signed copies** of my Grey Faction novels and comics, and others at the **Brighton Beach comic con at the Grand Hotel, 7th April 2018 between 10am and 5pm**. I'm sadly in the secondary selling area at the back as I only just got a table at the last minute. Any of you who come, mention this fanfiction story's full name and I'll give you 10% off on any purchases of £10 or more.

If you're out of the country or can't come, my Grey Faction comic: Jinhai's Justice is currently has 15% discount on the lulu booksellers website, alternately search **Jinhai's Justice 2018** on any search engine.


	15. Dreams of hiring Dingir

**A/N: Here's a bonus chapter again to tide you over, I'll update a proper chapter soon, promise!**

 **Also I've got a book event tomorrow (12.05.2018) at ALL SAINTS HALL, EATON ROAD, HOVE. It'll be between 2pm and 6pm. If anyone can come to the Brighton and Hove book fayre, it'll be great to see you, it will also have other local authors as well.**

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

 **Level:** 14, 4199 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 844 / 844

 **MP:** 998 / 998

 **Strength:** 40 (52)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 48 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 30 (50)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 2458

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER 10.5 (part 2)**

 _Dreams of hiring Dingir_

* * *

 _(MULTI POV)_

Mark tossed and turned in his bed, his entertainment for the evening had already left, having only been able to stay for a few hours, as they both had dawn duty the next day. His mind surged with recent memories, of killing people to level up, as he finally drifted into a fitful sleep, the memories of fictional self, his Dingir, flowed into him once again.

* * *

 _Kimberlain and the Zombie Hunters waited outside the surgery for close to an hour. Why a general store needed such a thing, she didn't know. A family left soon after they arrived, a mother, father, and three children, they all looked tired, but a sense of relief was clear on their faces._

 _"Why are you young ladies here?" asked the father._

 _"We could ask the same of you," Amy retorted._

 _That made the father chuckle. "Mister Hickson was just patching us up after a monster attacked us, we're lucky Dingir was there to kill it."_

 _"So Dingir is here?" Amy asked._

 _"Yes, he's with Hickson now, are you here for his help too?" he asked._

 _"Yes," she admitted, though not willing to discuss why._

 _"Then you'll be just fine, we'll if you'll excuse us, we've had quite the day. I wish you luck with whatever's troubling you."_

 _"Dingir's all cool and glowy!" giggled one the daughters, as they left._

 _"Cool and glowy?" Alice snorted. "I can't wait to mention that."_

 _"Please don't," insisted a deep, but young voice nearby. They turned to see the towering form of Mark, nicknamed Dingir by the Devils that both admired and hated him. "I got enough from Hickson earlier when the kids were praising me."_

 _Dingir stood a little over six feet tall, with black hair and grey eyes, which were surrounded with the black colouration of one who seldom slept, he was thickly built, and wore a long leather coat that had several large gashes and burns in the leather, they noticed bandages beneath his half unbuttoned shirt. "Mozella, Amy, Alice, what do the zombie hunters want with me?"_

 _"Not us," Mozella replied. "Kimberlain here wants to hire you to rescue someone." She gestured to the pinkette vampiress, who had gone deciedly pale and quiet, as most lesser demons did in his presense. Which wasn't suprising, as only devils had a chance of defeating him. A mere demon was a insect._

 _"I don't help demons," Dingir replied coldly, dismissing them. "I kill demons."_

 _"Hey, wait!"_

 _"Concidering that I'm the boss, I think we should hear them out first," said a new voice. It was John Hickson, the immortal owner of the shop. He was covered in incredibly detailed tattoos that resembled spellcraft combined with circuitry, they glowed faintly with a blue light. "If fellow hunters are with her, vampire or not, it might just be something serious, isn't that right, Mark?"_

 _"Tch!" he grunted in irritation. Dingir needed Hickson to hunt more devils and demons, as well as heal him with magic, and the immortal used that maliciously to keep him in line._

 _"Excellent!" he declared. "Now ladies, follow me to my office and we'll discuss this rescue mission."_

* * *

 _'What the hell is this guy?' Kimberlain thought as the shop owner brought them tea as they took a seat in one of several couches crammed into the small room. Her eyes flickering to Dingir, who skulked in the corner, looking almost petulant. A strange aura radiated from him, she couldn't see it, but she could sense it, Kimberlain didn't know why, but it reminded her of the blessed weapons they sometimes used, or holy water. Something that hurt demons, and hurt her. The aura also had a predatory edge to it, and her vampiric senses screamed for her to leave, even if he was ignoring her._

 _"It's okay," Alice whispered, seeing Kimberlain''s nervousness, and resting a reassuring hand on hers. "You're just sensing his purifying power, as long as he doesn't touch you, it can't hurt you."_

 _"We won't let him either," Amy added. "Sorry, we should have mentioned that he doesn't like demons."_

 _"Yeah," agreed Hickson taking a seat behind his desk, which was piled with scrolls, grimoires, and several porn mags, which he casually slid to the side. "I do not discriminate, but my grumpy friend is a little…Well anyway, why do you need us?"_

 _The zombie hunters nudged Kimberlain._

 _"I'm want to hire you to help me rescue my family from the Dark Earl," Kimberlain said in response to their prompting._

 _"The Dark Earl?" Dingir asked, curious, he hadn't heard that name before._

 _"It's a persona that the Dark God, **Nyarlathotep** has taken to wearing," Hickson explained. "A hundred or so years ago, the Dark Earl, then called the Shadow Master, nearly destroyed the world. The Vladamir clan's leader, and two servants, including Kimberlain here, were able to send him back into the void, at least until recently."_

 _"So the other two are the ones that you want me to rescue?" Dingir asked Kimberlain. If they were screwing over something evil, he didn't mind helping as much._

 _"Yes," she replied, nervously. Hickson, as well as the zombie hunters gave the young man a meaningful look. Apologize. Now._

 _Dingir sighed deeply. "Oh, for pity's sake, I'm sorry if I was rude earlier, or my aura scares you, but I can't turn it off, I'm basically a 24/7 bottle of holy water. Please just act as normal, I'm not going to hurt you."_

 _Kimberlain regarded him for a while, "Okay then, that's better. But don't be mean." Dingir's eye twitched in response._

 _Kimberlain went on to explain what she had learnt from Matos over the phone, about the bombing of the Council, the slaughter of the Vladimir clan home in Germany, and Countess Vladimir, along with Frederick, being kidnapped by the Dark Earl._

 _"The Dark Earl has an army of zombies, vampires, trolls, werewolfs, and unknown horrors, even human soldiers, and sooner or later, he'll threaten the human world again, and it'll be too late then to stop him."_

 _"I thought you wanted a rescue mission, a God isn't an enemy I can hope to kill," Mark stated. A devil was hard enough._

 _"True," interjected Mozella. "But if an opening presents itself, we should take it."_

 _"We?" Dingir snorted. "I was under the impression you wanted me to do it because you couldn't handle it."_

 _"We won't throw our lives away, but that doesn't mean we can't help," Mozella snapped back, volenteering them, despite her earlier words. She realised that, adding, "long range support, that sort of thing."_

 _"Never the less it won't work," he retorted. "We'd be lucky to escape with our lives."_

 _"He's right," Hickson interjected. "But we could fill their base with explosives, Bloody Mary their sprinkler systems, and put a dent in his forces during the rescue." Bloody Mary referred to Dingir adding his blood to a sprinkler system or other water transport method. Dingir's blood, which was a deadly poison to demons, would melt anything demonic or monstrous that it touched better than holy water ever could._

 _"We'd need more people," Mozella stated._

 _"What about that Matos guy you mentioned, and any survivors from your clan, he said there was some, right?" Amy suggested._

 _"I'm sure they'd help."_

 _"Good," smiled Hickson. "But we need to join forces with them, arm them, plan our mission in detail, and of course, we actually need to know where the enemy is based, and if that is where the Dark Earl is keeping them."_

 _"He will," Kimberlain assured them. "If it's the same guy as last time, he'll not want to risk them escaping. We were the ones who beat him last time."_

 _"But that's not the most important point," Hickson added._

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Money," Dingir muttered._

 _"Indeed," Hickson agreed. "So let's draft up an estimate of costs and wages, plus a multiplier because you need to get the money post-mission from the Countess, and then I'll look into finding your allies, and maybe, the Dark Earl too."_

* * *

 _Matos and Veronica had survived the Dark Earl's brutal attacks, barely, but their being a werewolf and vampire respectively afforded them far greater vitality and healing ability than a normal human. Even so, if not for some of Matos's subordinates coming when they and the Countess didn't arrive, they probably wouldn't have made it. Veronica's hole closed up in a few days after drinking a lot of blood, he however was bed-bound for nearly a week._

 _The Zynox company that had flown them here before, collected them after they had recovered enough to travel, along with a small force of his werewolves._

 _There was an underground compound that was being fitted for their use. It was heavily fortified, as it had once been used for less than legal operations before the property had changed owners. In addition, especially to Veronica's delight, their clan's home, which had been obliterated by human soldiers working under the Dark Earl, had not been totally successful in wiping them out. Thirty-one vampires had apparently survived the attack, thanks to the efforts of the Illuminate special responces division, and Zyrox had been able to contact them in their remote hiding space and transport the survivors to the compound._

 _The reunion occurred a few days after that. It was a both wonderful and horrible, as they saw who had survived, they too also knew who had died. Zervio had been amoung the dead. A terrible loss for them all._

 _"He saved me," Nostrum told Veronica in a quiet voice. "The time he brought us was…" he paused, "well he died like a true warrior should."_

 _"But such a thing to happen to us, it is unacceptable, the Dark Earl even took the Countess, but I promise you, we will avenge this loss," Veronica declared._

 _"I would think saving your blood kin would be a higher priority for you," said an unfamilar voice, deep but young, with a faint hint of distaste._

 _A sudden chill ran down both their backs, as the sensation of being locked in with a starving predator hit them. They turned to face the speaker, Nostrum bared his fangs, while Veronica drew the small pistol hidden beneath her clothing. The speaker was a young man, dark haired and grey eyed, perhaps a little out of his teenage years. He was dressed in a black tracksuit, which bore several subtle bulges of one who hides weapons on their person._

 _"Who the hell are you?" Nostrum demanded, not recognising the kid, he had a strange scent, it was human mostly, but their was a hint of something inhuman, that made him feel ill, along with the faint scent of blood, not human blood, but demon blood. This person had killed recently. He carried himself like a martial artist, even in the relaxed, seemingly indifferent stance he took._

 _"You are not with the humans that accompanied the others," Veronica stated, gestuing with her gun for emphasis. "Answer my kin's question."_

 _The young man smiled, a suprisingly unsettling action. "Dingir, I've been hired to come here," he said. They both froze at the name. It was a very ancient term that meant both God and angel, it was also the alias of the strongest exorcist in the world, he worked for the Demon Workshop supposedly, but had also done work for the Vatican, a group that while signing the peace treaty, wouldn't hesistate to destroy their kind either._

 _For what reason was he here? Then to their great surprise, they saw Kimberlain, the little pinkette vampire slap that very Dingir around the back of the head, and with her vampiric strength, she ended up facepalming him into the concrete._

 _"What?!"_

 _"Kimberlain?"_

 _"Dingir, you promised to be good, don't be misleading to antagonise my friends, okay?" Kimberlain complained._

 _"Noted," Mark grunted, standing in one smooth motion, calm, collected, as though he hadn't just been floored, it was spoiled somewhat by the bloody nose he now sported._

 _Normally vampires had trouble restraining themselves around freshly spilt blood, but the inhuman, but not demonic scent seem to grow stronger, it was most unappetising. "Good thing I wore gloves," Kimberlain grimaced, removing the one she'd hit him with, it was steaming as though burnt, and a faint red rash showed on the skin beneath, Kimberlain focused the little demonic power she had to heal it._

 _"I did warn you," Dingir replied, wiping his nose clean with the sleeve of his jogging suit, fortunately it was black. He regarded the two vampires, keeping his features stoic, it actually made him more intimidating, but not outright aggressive as before. "I have been hired, but to aid in the rescue of your mistress and her pet. The boss insisted."_

 _"Bum boy isn't a pet, he's one of us," Kimberlain chided, more relaxed around him in the journey to Canada. Hickson didn't want to get directly involved with the likes of the Earl, but had prepared a plan for them to work with, unlike them, he had to worry about being on an Evil God's badside…forever._

 _'I'm not even going to comment on that,' Dingir thought when he heard the vampire's nickname for Frederick. He turned away, heading for the nearest door. "We have to plan our rescue mission with the others," he said to them as he left. "Come." He left without checking to see if they followed, his bearing demanding obediance._

 _Exchanging looks, they followed Dingir, despite him being only a teenager, a mere infant compared to their long life spans. After all, revenge aside, they still wanted to save Frederick and the Countess._

* * *

Mark opened bleary eyes, yet another memory, he remembered the plot, it was for a game/novel/manga crossover that he had done with another author called Andre Duggan, they had often worked together during his mid to late twenties.

"I wonder what he is doing now?" he thought, it had been a few years since they'd last spoke to each other.

The dawn's bell sounded among the servants sector of the castle. Time to get ready for work.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next chapter: Saved by luck_

* * *

Thanks for reading the bonus chapter, its set within the Vampire Attack X Dingirverse crossover.

See you all soon. I promise!


	16. Saved by luck

**(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 14, 4199 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 844 / 844

 **MP:** 998 / 998

 **Strength:** 40 (52)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 48 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 30 (50)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, 1 Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 2458

* * *

 **A/N: Did that book event…worst one ever, it rained all day, I lost money because it had low attendance, broke the trolley used for transporting my stock (that I borrowed from my sister) don't plan to do that event again. Well enough petty bitching, on with the long awaited chapter eleven. On the plus side I managed to get a pair of size 16/50 extra-extra-extra wide shoes that actually fit…just. My others had big holes in them, hence my annoyance at the rain.**

 **In more relevant matters, we'll also be starring a new OC from another fanfiction member.**

 **See below**

 ** _Warick_**

 _A character for you would be Iugo, he is part of a bodyguard group of merchants, he is shy, talks little in front of women, but he is enthusiastic when he talks about fighting techniques, especially with chains. He learned to handle the chain as a child his father taught techniques, but because of a monster attack his family was killed, after the initial shock Iugo returned home and took the relic of the family Infinitus (a chain that stretches and depending on the owner's will)._

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER ELEVEN**

 _Saved by luck_

* * *

"Recently there has been a number of murders by an unknown assailant, security will be increased both inside the castle and patrols outside will be tripled until we capture the person or persons responsible," Beatrix ordered her troops, the Pluto Knights were also in attendance as guarding the castle was part of their duties.

After that she gave each captain their specific orders, including Steiner, while the Pluto Knights returned to guarding the queen and princess. Mark followed the others at the rear of the group, staying out of the conversations for the most part. Externally he seemed stoic, serious, internally however, he was having a miniature panic attack.

He was the one they were looking for.

Every soldier inside the walled city would be looking for him!

'Thank fuck that I stopped already, everyone's going to be looking for me!' Mark internally screamed, while politely nodding to one of the soldiers he spend some time with.

'I didn't leave any evidence at the scenes, and it's not like they have forensics…'

Thank small mercies for a near-medieval culture.

But then there was the matter of witnesses, not to the crimes themselves, but those who guarded the castle's gates knew he had spent a lot of time in the city at night, and his joking banter with Carrie, who unwittingly guessed at what he was doing while poking fun.

If they ever suspected one of the army as the killer, he would quickly find himself in a difficult position, luckily Mark had stopped when he did. 'Unless they send me out, I should avoid leaving the castle grounds for a while, then Carrie can't say anything that might make me sound even the tiniest bit suspicious.'

Feeling somewhat more in control of himself, having used his internalised panic to run its cause, Mark knew that there was little he could do, as always he would focus on his job as a Pluto Knight, fool around with any willing women, and remain in the castle grounds.

And as he had stopped hunting criminals for experience points, they weren't going to catch him in the act.

Unfortunately, and rather unexpectedly more murders occurred that very night.

* * *

 _(Alexandria's Merchant district, 10:45pm)_

Iugo yawned as the last boxes of stock were being carried into the tavern, his employers had sent him, along with two other mercenaries to guard these liquor merchants through the monster filled mists from Dali to Alexandria castle city. It had been a long day, and the young chain user desired to sleep, he felt no need to help with the unloading as the others did, he was paid to keep them safe, while it would have meant they would finish faster, he had learnt from experience not to do more than he needed to. But still he was sleepy.

"Hurry up!" he called to them.

"Piss off Iugo!" yelled back Kreck.

"Why don't you help out?" added Riggs.

"I'm keeping watch!" Iugo replied, earning twin glares. That was a lie of course, he'd long since earned his pay for this, but he made a point of looking about. It was that alone that saved his life.

A short portly man appeared in the mist, his face was blank of all emotions, and his eyes were glowing a deep yellow, perhaps even gold. He wore white pants and black overcoat, his hands and feet bare.

"What the?" Iugo thought, reaching to his lower back for his chain whip, the _Infinitus_ , it was made from Mythril, a magical alloy, and if he supplied it with magic, he could make it stretch and retract, it made for a capable weapon.

The man seemed to vanish in the midst.

 **"KILL!"** a toneless voice hissed in his ear from behind.

Iugo reacted on instinct, leaping to the side while using his whip to hurl himself and his attacker using the centrifugal force, he had his whip extend while releasing his attacker, sending the yellow eyed man smashing into a nearby shop front.

"Hey, what's going on?" Kreck yelled, running out with his sword drawn.

Riggs followed moments later with their client, they paused, seeing the damaged property, and Iugo's weapon lashing in the air with consecutive cracks, a move he used to keep opponents that were faster than him at a distance.

"Seems we've been attacked," Riggs said, pulling down his long handled axe from the wagon, similar to an executioners blade.

"Yeah…" Kreck agreed as he saw a yellow eyed silhouette emerging from the damaged store. He looked to the frightened merchant, "Please go inside Lord Dykeson and lock the door," the mercenary paused as he saw the attacker charge Fira spells in each hand. "And send someone out the back door to call for the city guards, ideally the mage corps, it's a black mage."

"O-Of course," Lord Dykeson replied, slamming the door shut, and several locks followed.

A black mage, the most powerful and most rare variety of magic user.

Among humans, less than 10% of them had the talent to use magic in any form, and from that 10% only a small number could use black magic.

Explanation time!

 **Out of every 1000 people, on average 100 can use magic:**

 **Of those 100:**

 _60 can use a mix of status/assist/imbuing or 'grey magic'_

 _30 can use white magic_

 _10 can use black magic_

 **Additionally the spells one can cast are heavily limited by access to divine tools or imbued items, typically a gift of the Gods, or made by users of Grey Magic. A person must remain in contact with these items to use any kind of magic, until such time that their bodies adapt to use it alone.**

 **One is also limited by their level.**

Which is why the three mercenaries found them rather nervous by the twin Fira spells in the mage's hands. It was a grade 2 spell, or expert level. Above that was grade 3, or master level, or grade 4 for genius/monster level. Most never made it passed grade 2, twin casting was as difficult as grade 3.

"KILL!" the man growled, charging at them. Rather than simply blasting at them, the black mage charged in close, swinging at them, using the flames as an extension of his fists.

As Axe met flame, the spell exploded, destroying Riggs's axe, and he was left with a simplified metal spear, ignoring the fading flame, he stepped in and jammed the sharp edge into the black mage's chest, it barely pierced the skin.

"What the Hell are you made of?!"

"KILL!"

The second Fira hit him dead on, and obliterated his upper half, Riggs collapsed, the charred half scattering as dust in the cold night wind.

"Riggs!" yelled Kreck, channelling magic into his sword, acting a sword art meant for combating magic users. "You piece of shit, I'll kill you!"

"Oi!" yelled Iugo, who had retreated to a safer distance. "Calm down, Kreck!" He was ignored. "We just need to hold out until the Alexandrian Knights get here… Kreck!"

"Take this, Magic Break!" Slashing with his sword, the built up purple coloured magic struck the black mage, a magic glyph flashed briefly as its effect was felt,

(Reduces enemy's Magic Power by 25%)

The blade itself however did little damage. Much like the axe.

'What the Hell is this guy made of?' Thought Iugo while repeatedly whipping at the black mage with his chain, it guarded itself, while gathering magic, Iugo saw a flicker of electricity and was able to let go of his chain in time, before a Thundara spell ran down its length.

Iugo was down a weapon, a dangerous static hissed and crackled around his inherited weapon. Iugo was a smart man, the black mage hadn't once gone for the store, their employer was not the target. Therefore they could run.

The black mage gathered more magic, another Fira, larger than before, the way it pulsed, it was going to be a ranged attack this time. Iugo grabbed Kreck, hurling them both to the side, and onto the cobblestone. Hard.

The Fira spell passed where they had been moments before, glancing a thatched roof and began to burn. Ironically this is what saved them.

The illumination it provided in the deep dark of a night without electrical lights was enormous, Knights flocked to the source, among them some called by one of Dykeson's servant boy, but most came to the source of the flame

The black mage saw the approaching forces, and faded back into darkness. Though it wanted to kill, its creators had demanded it not kill the soldiers, so it obeyed, and retreated. For now.

"Finally," Iugo sighed in relief.

* * *

( _Alexandria Castle, Pluto Knight's quarters, 6:30am_ )

"It seems that last night the killer struck again," Steiner informed his sleepy eyed troops, though Mark's eyes had damn near popped out of his head when he heard that.

'What the heck, I already stopped killing criminals for experience points,' Mark thought, forcing the shock from his features. 'So is someone else doing the same?'

"Including several civilians, a mercenary group was attacked, losing one of their members. But thanks to them, we have a clear description of the attacker," continued Steiner. He held up a detailed sketch of the attacker, a new wanted poster.

It showed a man around the same age as Mark, wearing the garb of the black mages from the game, not a black magic user, but the mass production golems/clones that could be used for battle. The mages face was new to him, but in the game it was always implied that their faces were just shadowed in their wide brim wizard hats. An insider joke to the cheap graphics of the playstation 1 game nearly twenty years prior that started the series. The outfit was definitely the same. The detailed illustration even showed the seemingly soulless eyes of the golem turned black mage.

"The attacker's name is unknown to us, they appear to be in their mid to late thirties, they have yellow eyes and light brown hair, they are apparently wearing a black overcoat and white pants, in the older wizarding style from a few centuries back. The Pluto Knights will be assisting in this as well. We will send four knights in groups of two, each accompanied by a member of the black mage corps. This is because the attacker is a skilled black mage. We shall provide our blades for the kill, while the mages protect us from the magic and attack," said Steiner with his usual seriousness ramped a notch or two higher.

"Why do they want our help, they all hate us," Breireicht complained.

"Not all of us," muttered Weimar with a quick glance in Mark's direction, no doubt in regards to his respectable run of conquests with their female colleagues, though it was more due to his knowing not to act like a sexist brute from the bygone age of his world, a little respect and a little more charm went a long way. Most of them acted like utter creeps when they played at charm, unfortunately for them most of the lady soldiers were stronger than them, so they had to mind the manners or face worse than a mere rejection.

Mark simply ignored the grumpy knight.

"Silence," ordered Steiner firmly. "Due to rebuilding and expanding the trading point that was destroyed during the Goblin invasion, as well as guarding it and the surrounding area, we are down on the Kingdoms usual forces. The Queen herself has asked that we help search in the residential areas around the castle itself."

Well that made sense, as the Pluto Knights were always stationed in the city, they knew the area better than many of the usual Alexandrian forces whose tours of duty took them all over the kingdom.

"Understood sir," Haagen said. "Who will be on these teams?"

Steiner nodded in approval. "Team one will consist of myself and Kohel, along with whoever they send."

"You got it, Captain," saluted Kohel.

"As for team two, Haagen and Mark."

"Sir!"

"Understood," Mark replied, inwardly concerned. It was doubtful they would be the one to find this black mage killer, but he was not a lucky man. Even if their levels were similar, could he take a black mage, even with backup? He could only hope the black mage corps member being assigned to them was competent.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next Chapter: Overcasting_

* * *

A/N: Well, there's the chapter I promised, sorry it took a few days longer than I planned. I hope you enjoyed it.

Also, who do you think is the other person sent ahead of me as mentioned by the game's creator? The first person to get it right, gets a small cameo in one of my professionally published works.

Also I didn't do my usual end of chapter stats as Mark didn't level up at all this chapter.

See you next time.


	17. Overcasting

_**A special guest will be appearing in this chapter, nobody sent their guesses in the reviews yet, but oh well...**_

 _ **I'll still give you the chance to figure out their identity for the prize as they are using an alias.**_

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 14, 4199 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 844 / 844

 **MP:** 998 / 998

 **Strength:** 40 (52)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 48 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 30 (50)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** Iron short sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, 1 Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger X 2, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 14458 _(I've been forgetting to add his monthly wages like a plonka…and sorted!)_

* * *

 **A Nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER 12**

 _Overcasting_

* * *

Kuja drank his wine, relaxing after a long evening of manipulating the nobles, he needed to keep them in line for his goals, but another year or so and he would have amassed everything he needed from this primitive continent, there was still the matter of the airship that did not use the mist so he could quickly travel to the other continents of this primitive world, and a certain annoyance, but that would be dealt with in due course.

He wondered how his minions in the castle were doing with his booster core, a special type of grey magic that was unique to him, which allowed him to overcharge a single status beyond the norm. So far, only Berserk produced any results, however a sustained berserker still needed to function mentally, while retaining a constant heightened physical level, non-stop flow of adrenaline and endorphins. It obviously heightened killing intent and rage to the extreme, but a strong mind could take it.

A lowly goblin with some black magical talent had become a level 50 Necromancer in a very short time, though a trance user and Beatrix had defeated it. He would be mad, but Beatrix was in on the plan with himself and the Queen, they weren't allies though, he knew the Queen would turn on him once she had stolen her daughter's summons and stocked up enough of his battle golems, the lazily named black mage dolls. What she didn't know was that those factories produced many times what they declared, with those excess being shipped to one of his bases across the seas.

Still those jesters had mentioned they were trying out a new host for the core, hopefully it would last longer, as which more time, and each host, the core grew stronger, eventually he would use it, or more likely an improved version to sustain a permanent state of trance, and reach ascendance, of course, to get enough power, he needed a lot of power, and he wasn't so desperate to chance his father's retribution…not yet.

"Heh Heh…"

"It's rather creepy when you do that," said a soft spoken man with mocking tones.

Kuja glared at the speaker, wishing he had the strength to kill him. Like his immortal father, this man was a monster of the highest order. "I did not request your opinion, Trancer!" he all but snarled.

Sitting on veranda closest to him, was a man with the appearance of being in his late thirties, dark hair, worn messily, his glowing red eyes surrounded by a small white face mask, the kind that covered very little, like those worn at a masquerade ball. He wore a top hat, black suit in a style unique to him, and a Treno nobleman's cape. The man, Trancer dared to smile at Kuja's glare.

"True, but _ **I request**_ a status update upon the filling of the crystal, how many souls have you fed to it since we last met?" Trancer asked.

Kuja suppressed his anger, it wasn't time, not yet. "Many thousands in addition to the dregs harvested from the mist that don't go towards my golem production, but once the war begins, that will accelerate rapidly."

Trancer nodded, he didn't trust the monkey tailed alien, but just like all intelligent villains, he had many back up plans, as well as plans around Kuja's plans. "Glad to hear it, I was beginning to think you were not interested in living long enough to enact your own twisted little desires," he held up a glass of wine in toast.

Kuja started as he realised it was the one he had been drinking from, and had never let go of it. He glanced down at his hand to confirm - empty. It was most definitely his. Yet another power play, Trancer had access to dark magicks that existed nowhere on Gaia or Terra, and Kuja had already suffered greatly for trying to kill the smiling masked monster before him.

The Angel of Death - Kuja was then forced into their current deal, to transfer any souls or mist fragments that he could snatch from the Lifa Tree when people died and Garland, and then place it within a strange silvery coloured crystal, in exchange for this, he got to live. Of course Kuja had his own uses for the soul dregs, but as long he also met the yearly quota for the crystal, Trancer did not care. Kuja hated his current circumstances, but he was confident that upon obtaining the eternal Trance power made from the many souls he gathered, even Trancer, even his father would be easily dealt with. The fact that the power he desired was so similar to this monster's name was also rather vexing.

* * *

 _ **(scene change - Alexandria castle - one week later)**_

"Nothing again, huh?" yawned Haagen as they returned towards the castle as their shift ended, once again they had failed to find the killer. Fortunately it was a starry night and a full moon, they didn't need torches this time, which often blinded them more than it helped them see in the dark.

Trailing behind the two knights was Saria, a black mage that Mark had met once before, level 14 back then, though she'd levelled up once since then. Despite being a mage, she wore the armour expected of an Alexandrian soldier, only difference being the small black star emblem on her helm, virtually no mages wore the robes anymore, Mark had been rather disappointed to discover that. You can magic clothes to be stupidly tough, but why not do it to your armour if you're going into battle instead and get something superior?

"Seems like it," Mark agreed, though he kept his awareness high, you never knew what could happen. Even though they had yet to capture the killer, several more people had died, either ripped apart through inhuman strength or blasted with strong fire magic, if the burnt husks were any indication. "But keep your guard up anyway."

* * *

 _(A/N: You had to jinx them, didn't you?)_

* * *

"Fire!" yelled the red headed mage suddenly. They dived with a curse, armour clattering loudly on the cobblestones to avoid her spell. A short distance from them was the killer, its arms were crossed, clothing singed from Saria's, revealing stitched together flesh, and from beneath the gaps, was glowing green energy. Magic.

'It was just standing there…and it doesn't seem to breathe,' Mark thought with surprise, as he was good at sensing and identifying people by how they breathed or the sound they made when they walked. It was probably because it wasn't truly alive, but it was embarrassing that another had to notice it to keep them safe.

"Fire!"

Mark charged forward, and even as he drew his sword, another Fire spell passed by his head and was dispelled by the fire spell that the mage doll blasted towards him. 'It casts spells way too fast!'

 **"FIRE!"**

"Fire!"

"I'll protect you, so kill him!" yelled Saria, shooting a fire spell into the air as a signal to other soldiers and mages that might help, before casting water moments before Mark would have been incinerated by another fire spell, this time a Fira.

 **"FIRA!"**

"Water!"

She felt spasms up her arm, as the mana in her body struggled to keep up with the rapid spell usage. In seconds, dozens of spells were fired.

Mark tightened his grip, pushed down his fear, letting his adrenaline speed his movements, and letting his killing intent guide him to victory, that hot, heavy feeling. He need not feel guilt, this thing was a doll, a golem, a construct to contain and use magic, this wasn't like those criminals.

 **"BLIZZARD!"**

"Fire!"

 **"THUNDER!"**

"Thunder!"

He needed to be smart, the mercenary had said its clothes repelled blades. He needed to go for the head or the exposed arm, courtesy of Saria's first spell.

'Cast: Poison on blade.' It wouldn't be enough though, as the glowing sword met the flaming Fira fist of the Black Mage golem, his blade broke in half.

 **"FIRA!"**

The Flaming fist carried on towards him with a brutal hook. Mark did a near back breaking sway-back to avoid it. He quickly righted himself, nearly searing himself on the trailing flames and sharply struck the Black Mage's elbow with a back hand, making the golem overextend.

A tiny opening appeared and Mark jammed the remains of the blade into the Black Mage's throat as hard as he could, it pierced, but a spasm ran up his arm, it's skin was tough too. His iron sword managed several inches, but he had put enough force to skewer the enemy.

'Jeez…How tough is this thing?!'

His eyes flickered above the black mage's head. There was no name, only a level. 35.

The Black mage stumbled back, ripping the sword from its throat, very little blood coming out. It swung his broken blade with far more force than he could ever manage. Mark brought up his buckler to guard himself, he grounded himself, he would take this and spam poison spells into the wound he'd made. In the game you could only add the effect once, but in real life, the more poison in a victim's body, the quicker it would kill them. He lacked offensive magicks, and Minus Strike only dealt damage equal to the difference to his maximum and current state, unless he was badly injured or dying, it didn't do much. He just had to take this hit.

 _Smash!_

There must have been a huge difference in their strength points, as Mark's buckler broke instantly, along with his arm, snapping with a shocking noise and pain, his forearm spun about, dislocated too. Mark yelled in both anger and pain as the Black Mage went to finish him with his own weapon.

"Equip: Goblin Dagger!" it appeared in his hand. He'd block this, but after that he'd likely be out of the fight.

"Fire!" Saria blasted out another fire spell to help him.

 **"FIRA!"** The Black Mage casually used its free hand to block Saria's attempts to save him. The Black Mage seemed determined to get payback for his injury, its eyes, which were still lacking the spark of true life, now burned with a murderous berserk rage.

Mark didn't know why, but he was reminded of the Necromancer. That burning hatred, utterly focused on him.

 **"KILL!"**

 **"KILL!"**

An iron sword suddenly stabbed through the Black Mage's throat from behind. Skewering the killing machine completely. It was Haagen, who had silently withdrawn in the chaos, and waited for an opening. He had observed that Mark's strength hadn't been enough, so he had jumped and stabbed downwards, adding his weight (+armour) to the attack, the faint glow of the blade suggested an enhancing skill, likely Man-Eater or Mage-Killer. Whichever had been used, the combination had been enough.

"Haagen, you brilliant bastard!"

"Thanks for the distraction," the Pluto Knight grinned. He glanced to Saria, "and thanks for keeping this idiot alive."

"No problem."

 **"KILL!"** It bellowed, throwing him off. Haagen skidded across the cobblestones.

"It's still alive?"

"Seriously?!"

"Saria, Thunder on the sword!" Mark yelled, leaping away. Thankfully she instantly understood his intent, using metal as a medium, it would conduct far better, and deal damage from within its body and not through its tough clothing and skin.

"Thunder!"

Thunder based magic was far faster than the other basic element spells. This time, hampered by its injuries, the attack landed. It's body spasming, but did not fall.

Mark, dropped the dagger and began channelling his magic, creating a ball of concentrated poison. Though he wore a gauntlet, he began to feel unwell.

"Poison!"

"Panacea!"

"Poison!"

"Poison!"

"Poison!"

"Poison!"

The poison had turned black and began to bubble like hot tar.

"Poison!"

He felt faint again…

"Panacea!"

"Cure!" the pain in his arm got better, but it didn't repair, it likely needed to popped back in, and reset in a splint so that the white magic could do its job. It wasn't so convenient as in the game. In the Goblin siege, the potions had kept him from bleeding out after being stabbed and slashed, but had basically been a temp patch job.

The Black Mage was shaking off the paralysis caused by Saria's thunder spell, but as Mark charged, she fired off another.

"Thunder!"

And Mark jammed the concentrated poison into the open wound he had made with his broken sword earlier.

 **"!"** The Black Mage's body jolted and collapsed to his knees.

Mark wasn't sure why, but he still felt a sense of intimidation from the downed foe. He quickly retreated, Haagen seeing this, followed, keeping a wide distance.

 **"K-KILL!"**

Its hat fell off, they could see its skin was rotting, it looked like an undead, its eyes still glowing with that golden malice.

"He's on his last legs, don't let your guards down!" Saria ordered, lightning crackling along her fingers, but there was a deep tiredness about her.

'She's used up almost all her MP with rapid casting, we need to end this now,' Mark thought, 'and who knows how long the poison will take…' He kicked the Goblin Dagger to Haagen, who nodded gratefully.

It wasn't like Mark could hold a weapon right now. His Gauntlet had melted from his own poison, his palm was now an ugly red colour, similar to a bad burn. It was numb, which was a bad sign. Nerve damage. 'Shit…' And his other arm was so bad that he couldn't lift it.

They could see torches of soldiers in the distance, they had seen the magic casting. If the Black Mage could still fight, reinforcements would handle what they couldn't.

"Cast: Regen + Cure," he used it on all three of them. Their backs straightened. Mark regarded his hand, it looked slightly better, and he could flex it slightly. But he would need to rely on magic for this, not physical abilities. However he still had his Protect spell and…Sleep. 'Fuck, that might have helped a lot earlier.' Unlike the game, he didn't have the menu in battle all the time. He to remember it, and refresh himself. Sadly when it didn't come to what he wrote, he didn't have a brilliant memory, he was a selective genius. (Well that was the excuse he used, he wasn't even sure he believed that himself sometimes.)

* * *

 _(A/N: I actually forgot about these spells when writing this so…)_

* * *

"Cast: Protect!" a faint glow surrounded them all, strengthening their defenses somewhat.

"Thanks," Haagen said, channelling the skill Man-Eater to make the dagger more dangerous. He had done the same with his earlier surprise attack.

The Black Mage began to rise.

"You should have used that when it got your arm," Saria chided.

"I didn't get a chance," Mark lied. She snorted in disbelief. He wisely didn't comment.

Their enemy collapsed back down to their knees, as they landed, they used one arm to steady themselves and the arm erupted in a splatter of rotten flesh, poison and blood.

"Looks like your poison magic worked really well," Saria noted, rather surprised at its deadliness.

"Y-Yeah…"

The Black Mage raised one arm, pointing to the sky. It began to focus all its remaining mana to its hand. A massive swirling fire engulfed the sky above them. It was a tier 3 or tier 4 spell.

 **"F-FIRA…GA!"** It growled, struggling to maintain a spell beyond its normal level. The berserk core within it, compelled it to kill, compelled it to exceed its current limits.

"Firaga, are you kidding me?!"

"Shit!"

"Quick, run!"

Saria created a barrier of ice with a blizzard spell while they fled around the nearest corner street. The Fire spell would have obliterated the barrier and likely burnt down many nearby homes and businesses. However…

"Watera!"

"Water!"

"Water!"

"Water!"

"Watera!"

"Water!"

A cascade of water offensive spells hit the Firaga spell and its caster. Killing him and countering the spell before it could kill the trio. The other teams of two knights and one black mage had arrived, along with dozens of regular troops. Steiner was among them.

Mark, Haagen, and Saria came back from around the corner and the ice barrier.

"Still alive?" Steiner asked.

"Only just," Haagen replied. "I'll need a new sword though."

"Why?"

"You guys just destroyed it, I left it inside the Black Mage," Haagen replied, pointing to the mangled blade, partly damaged due to poison, but he didn't want to pay for a replacement weapon.

"Same," Mark said, trailing behind them. "But the Black Mage also broke mine…"

"Really, you haven't even had it long," Steiner sighed, but froze when he saw the state of Mark's arms, one horribly burnt, the other twisted horribly, hanging from the elbow joint.

"We need to get you to the physicians and healers," Steiner said, hurrying forward. "How are you two?" he asked Saria and Haagen.

"A little sore, but I'm fine," Haagen said, waving off the concern.

"I need a Ether and a lot of sleep," she admitted, having used up most of her MP, and over a short period. The Pluto Captain nodded, handing over the MP restorative item.

"Thanks," she said, feeling the strain lesson almost immediately.

Meanwhile, a small red orb left the body of the Black Mage, returning to Zorn and Thorn inside the castle.

 _LEVEL UP!_

* * *

 _Next Chapter:_

 _ **New power unlocked**_

* * *

 _A/N: Phew, a bit longer than the normal chapters, and as the level up stats will be a plot point in the next chapter, I have not included them with this chapter, you'll have to wait until next time._

 _Be sure to check out my other Dingir / Grey Faction crossovers by clicking on my fanfiction profile, which include Grimm, High School DXD, Justice League, My Hero Academia, Campione, Star Wars, etc…_

 _Additionally, if you want to see the original Dingir in action, there are the Grey Faction and Secret Yuuki books and comics below._

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers…and then preferably buy some, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback._

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Manga:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things


	18. New Power Unlocked!

**(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 14, 4199 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 800 / 844

 **MP:** 998 / 998

 **Strength:** 40 (52)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 48 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 30 (50)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** _(Broken weapon)_

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour _(minor damage)_

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves _(one crushed and broken)_

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, 1 Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 14458

* * *

 _A/N: Hello Warick, I forget to mention in our PM about the toughness of the Black Mage was due in part to the berserker core, which forces growth upon its host in all aspects due to it having to remain in a heightened, strained battle state, and this combined with its robotic focus as a killing machine made for a determined combination. Additionally all the Black Mages have tough skin, as it is reinforced by circulating mana through their skin, in a similar way to how magic equipment is made._

 **And Hello everyone else!**

 _I hope you enjoy this next chapter, though it might be a bit of a downer to start, as our main character didn't get off too easy after all._

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER 13**

 _New Power Unlocked_

* * *

 _(Mark POV)_

Everyone involved in the capture of the serial killer Black Mage had received a reward from the crown, this included our team that had practically beaten it, as well as those that finished it with the flurry of water spells, even those that had just ran about and gathered forces.

Everyone received 10,000 Gil each, over three months wages for a private.

Little to royalty, but a lot for stopping a single killer, however given the decrease in support/opinion towards the crown and military during the killings and their prior failure to stop a single magic user, by having the Queen publically rewarding them, they made a show of competence and generosity to the public. Apparently there had been a parade, all the Pluto Knights had been invited to take part as well, a proud day for them.

Steiner also got a shiny new medal.

Haagen got a promotion, becoming a Lance Corporal. Making him the only Pluto knight besides Steiner to not be a Private. Steiner had recommended me for the same promotion, but as I might not be returning to the Pluto Knights, the Queen rejected it.

Saria had been given permission to begin learning the second tier spells, such as Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, Watera, along with others. First time I'd seen a real smile on her. Though I learned months later that just saying the name of her lover was enough to get the same response. I was tempted to test that if I saw her again for any length of time.

As for me, I was still undergoing therapy and daily healings. My reward of sorts, as a lowly male knight wouldn't get this kind of attention otherwise.

I had made a mistake by healing myself in some respects. They had to re-break my arm to set in the correct way. The joint in my elbow would never fully heal, the muscles around it had been too badly damaged, there would be a weakness there they said, and bouts of pain.

As for the hand that had been burned by my poison, I had saved my hand from being chopped off as the burnt flesh would have gotten infected, however I had lost almost all feeling in my left hand, by forcing the dead tissue to heal. My palm was an ugly mass red scar tissue, but I could still grip and move my fingers. With practice I would still be able to wield a weapon. Unfortunately I would never (in this world) be able to grope a woman with both hands and feel that delightfulness in both hands. I'd still do it of course, but it was almost as depressing as the injury itself.

My stats had lowered slightly, like a de-buff, but I had levelled up from the fight, and unlocked the next lot of white and black magic I could learn. I was still considering what to pick, however I was more interested in the new type of magicks I had gained at the same time I had ruined my dominant hand.

 **"Announcement:** By combining more than five of the same spell, you have unlocked 'Magic Stacking.' With this you can use an increased amount of MP on a spell to create new ones for future use."

New magic learned: **Asag's Toxin - level 1** (Stack 5 or more poison spells) casting cost: 40MP. "Painfully rots victims to death, Multiple antidotes required to cure or higher level white magic. Long and close range usage."

With this spell, I'd definitely use it as a ranged spell or add it to a weapon, just the residue got through my Mythril Gauntlet and did all this damage to my hand.

 **"Announcement:** Maximum MP has been reached, choose one of the following:

1) Break limit on maximum MP from 999, allowing it to reach up to 9999. (Next available at level 50)

2) Upgrade character class from Wizard Knight: Select one of the following:

* **Purity Mage** \- _Lose all black magic spells, gain 10 white magic spells and boost to all stats. Gain additional Trance move: Wrath of the Seraphim._

* **Pestilence Mage** \- _Lose all white magic spells, gain 10 black magic spells and boost to all stats. Gain additional Trance move: Wrath of the Primordial Devil._

* **Grey Mage** \- _Retain all existing spells. Gain access to non combative magicks and skills, such as infusing skills and magic into objects and weapons. (Support/Societal) Select up to three stats to boost._

I ultimately chose to not break my MP limiter as I had enough MP right now, as much as a level 99 character in the normal games. I just needed MP recovery items if I ran low. With Stacking I could make brand new spells, and potentially make a stacked Cure as strong as Curaga with enough mana. Additional information from the game system showed that MP increases that were now capped, would instead be added to my HP's growth until I chose the option at level 50. Whoo! more HP, which would increase my survival odds, and given everything that had happened so far, I might just need it.

'Hmm… let's see,' I thought activating my status page, to view my current situation.

Which character class to pick…

* * *

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Wizard Knight _(upgrade available)_

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 15, 5800 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 800 / 970

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 32 (44)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 40 (41)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 28 (48)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** _(Broken weapon)_

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour _(minor damage)_

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves _(one crushed and broken)_

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, 1 Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24458

* * *

Several stats had taken a definite hit…I was about to bring up the options for the one black and one white magic spell that I could learn per my once every five levels deal, when I noticed I had two guests. A certain annoying General and her younger sister. I turned off my menu, and gave them a smile.

 _(Normal POV)_

"Hey Claire," Mark smiled. Above her head, he saw that she was level 20 now, she must have fought a fair bit on her first tour outside the city. He wished he could go, but the Pluto Knights were stationed primarily as a token guard force. But considering the setbacks, he wasn't doing too bad going from level 1 to 15 in only eight months. "It seems you've gotten a lot stronger since I last saw you, kudos."

Claire simply smiled, cheeks flushing slightly.

Beatrix however raised a suspicious brow. "Oh, you can tell that with a glance, can you?" She hadn't seen him use a scan spell. "Is that how you charm women these days?"

Mark gave her a tired, yet patient smile. "Of course, I can always tell. When we first met Claire was level 12, now she's level 20. Incidentally, I'm currently level 15, and your level 99."

They both started in surprise, he was exactly right.

"Normally with beautiful women like you two, I'd be more inclined to wax poetic about something else, but you General would kill me if I tried," he said with a shrug, catching attention to his injured arms, one horribly scared on the palm, the other in a brace and sling. And seeing that they had noticed the seriousness of his injuries, he then added, "and sadly I'm not in a state to put up much more than a token resistance." Beatrix found at the beautiful comment, while Claire flushed a little deeper.

"It's seems the reports were true, you were badly injured in the serial killer incident," Beatrix noticed, trying to steer the conversation away from compliments. "Will you be leaving the Pluto Knights?"

"Is it really so bad?" Claire asked, rushing over, she took his scarred hand, eyes widening at just how severe it was up close.

"I barely avoided losing this hand, but the scarring will remain, however the healers seem confident that I'll regain mostly full use of movement, but my sense of touch in my palm is shot, as for my right, they said it will be weaker and will act up occasionally, but assuming I'm not kicked out by the Captain or her Majesty, I intend to stay in my position," Mark replied, only just noticing she was holding his scarred hand. He really couldn't tell by touch.

"Can you be relied upon to protect the Princess in your condition, you must be aware she requests you even more than Steiner to accompany her?" Beatrix firmly asked. Claire's gripped tighter upon hearing that. She was only three years or so older than Garnet, and certainly not above a teenager's jealously.

"I am a magic user first and full most, General," Mark stated, putting emphasis on her rank and not calling her by name to show he was growing annoyed by her questions. "In addition to my knightly training with Captain Steiner, I have been devoted to learning new magicks. You do not need to trust me, General. I will show you through my actions that I can still be useful."

Beatrix and Mark locked gazes for a time, the hostile scrutiny was palpable. But it was the stronger General, not the knight that broke it. She sighed, shaking her head. If it wasn't for his reputation and her younger sister's apparent crush on him, she probably would have afforded him a certain level of respect and trust, much like she did Steiner.

"Very well," she conceded. "But I'll be keeping an eye on you once you return to your duties, if you prove incompetent, I'll be speaking to the Queen."

"Do as you wish…"

* * *

A few nights had passed since the General and her little sister had visited, she was a sweet thing, her apparent attraction to him was a bit of a nuisance as it drew Beatrice's ire upon him. Additionally it would be at least a year or two before she was legal by his world's terms. (Fuck what Gaia's age of consent was) and he'd probably be gone from this world by then, so he had no intentions of encouraging her. Beatrix obviously thought different, but fuck her! Not in that way! Ugh! Forget it…

In more important matters, Mark had chosen his character upgrade. He was going to select Grey Mage as it offered the most long term potential, and he had some good ideas for how to use its abilities to the fullest. He could make his own magical weapons and armour, but he wouldn't be able to create items with skills he didn't already have, but he planned to combine it with stacking for some interesting possibilities. There was a theory that he also wanted to test regarding non-level based stat boosting.

Once he selected the option, mana and knowledge crammed its way into his mind, he gritted his teeth, even for a speed reader like him, this was hard to keep up with. Once that was over, he activated the dormant tab in his menu for the black magic and white magic he could learn, the wizard knight benefits remained, and he wanted to get his hands on Ultima and Holy…eventually.

* * *

 **Black Magic** _(please select one of the following)_

 *** Slow**

 _Slows down target's movements and reactions for battle._

 *** Stop**

 _Stops targets from taking any action for one minute or less._

 *** Bio**

 _Causes Non-elemental damage and Poison to single/multiple targets._

* * *

 **White Magic** _(please select one of the following)_

 *** Scan**

 _Scan enemy to determine HP, MP, and weaknesses._

 *** Stona**

 _Removes Petrify and Gradual Petrify._

 *** Shell**

 _Reduces damage from magical attacks._

* * *

The choices were obvious, firstly black magic had a ranged poison spell that also dealt a decent amount of Non-elemental magic. Finally a spell he could spam to take down stronger enemies. As for white magic, he chose Shell, which protected him somewhat from magical attacks. He selected the options.

" **Game Alert:** You have learnt Bio and Shell."

Next were the three stats he could select to boost. Here was the gamble, to counter somewhat his injuries, pain he could handle, having another horrible scar he could handle, but he refused to be weaker.

He selected his physical strength three times to be boosted. The sudden increase in strength throughout his body and the strain it caused as his body changed to compensate, caused him to lose consciousness. However when he woke the next day. He would see an impressive difference.

* * *

 **Previously** **(before injuries)**

 **Strength:** 40 (52)

 **Currently** **(after injuries)**

 **Strength:** 32 (44)

* * *

It granted him a 10% increase three times. This meant that the first 10% would become part of the increase of the next 10% and so on.

The first 10% made his strength: 35

The second 10% made his strength: 39

The third and final 10% made his strength: 43

Which meant his strength now slightly exceeded what he'd lost, so his body had to strengthen everything. While his elbow was probably still a weak point, it was stronger than it had been before the injury, he squeezed his poison burnt hand, his grip was stronger, and his sense of touch was ever so slightly improved.

"Sir Green, it's time for your rehabilitation," said one of white mages involved in his care, "and we'll need to take off your brace," as they entered into the part of the infirmary he was kept in.

"Of course," Mark replied, getting out of the infirmary bed he was using, wincing slightly at the occasional twinge. Once he had recovered enough to return to work, Mark would be visiting the castle armory (Steiner's suggestion) to get refitted again with the castle issue weapons and equipment he needed.

From the Mage incident to his return to duty as a Pluto Knight (much to Garnet's relief!) that over three months had passed.

Making it his tenth month in the world of Gaia.

 _Only fourteen months until the game starts._

* * *

 **Next Chapter:**

 _Dingir and the Blacksmith_

* * *

 **(End of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 15, 5800 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 800 / 970

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 43 (55)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 40 (41)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 28 (48)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** _(Broken weapon)_

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour _(minor damage)_

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves _(one crushed and broken, the other part melted)_

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, 1 Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger X 2, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24458

* * *

 _A/N: Guess you weren't expecting an update so soon? Well I had the ideas I wanted to do, so I rushed it out. Now about the injuries, all he's done is strengthen himself to compensate, this gives him a good chance of getting through physical therapy and recovering enough to return to a paying job and having an 'in' with the characters Steiner and Garnet. We're getting closer to the end of disk 0 I'm afraid, but we still have the Cid arc, and the Tantalus arc to go._

 _And as always, if you can, check out my official Dingirverse books and comics._

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers…and then preferably buy some, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback._

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(coming soon)_

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things


	19. Dingir and the Blacksmith

A/N: Decided to bring back Darius the blacksmith briefly for this chapter, time to re-arm myself for the journey ahead.

Also I've been seeing an amazing diversity of readers from around the world in my story stats, thank you for reading my stories, and as my professionally published books aren't translated yet, it makes me very happy. If you think your country would like my Dingirverse books and they'd sell well, let me know for future reference. Worse comes to worse I'll use Google translate. If anyone wants to aid with translations after I use that to edit obvious errors, PM me.

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 15, 5800 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 800 / 970

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 43 (55)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 40 (41)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 28 (48)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (36)

 **Weapon:** _(Broken weapon)_

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron armour _(minor damage)_

 **Accessory:** Mythril gloves _(one crushed and broken, the other part melted)_

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, 1 Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24458

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER 14**

 _Dingir and the Blacksmith_

* * *

 _ **(Mark POV)**_

Finally I was able to return to active duty, and save for an ugly scar on my palm, and the occasional stabbing pain in my elbow, I was doing well. To fully heal from my residual injuries, I would need a magical item called a True Elixir, it was made using 99 Elixirs, 99 phoenix downs, and 999MP worth of white magic. It was listed as one of the final stacking options when I began experimenting with the healing potential of Grey Magic while I was being treated. The MP and revival items weren't a problem, but Elixir's were.

I'd forgotten that they didn't sell them in item shops…anywhere, they were a monster drop from creatures that would effortlessly kill me, even if I could get to them. Once the events of the game started and I joined the team, I had a chance to collect them, assuming I didn't need them to survive. Using Grey Magic was an interesting sight, it was like following instructions in a cook book, with my menu listing what I could do based upon my spells, skills, and items available.

It was truly very interesting, upon activating grey magic, a magic crest appears before me, hovering in the air, slightly above the height of my waist. Its pattern is complex, almost like circuitry, all the while glowing with a faint grey-blue light. I place items or magic inside it, and they are absorbed. From what I can tell it's like a pocket dimension, similar to my item sack, then using my MP and will, I can produce something new, or impart qualities into something else. Just like the Potion Makers and Synthesists.

I added my Mana to all of my potions in my menu and it produced a slightly enhanced version, which healed twice as much as a normal potion. I decided to name them Double Potions, or D-Potions for short.

 **Acquired: 20 x D-Potions**

I then tried adding the one antidote I had with a D-Potion and it created a green potion that also cured poison and minor illnesses. I named this one Herbal-D, you know like a sports drink or something, where they give it a jazzy name and packaging to trick you into buying their crap.

I then tried re-creating the results using another D-Potion and Panacea. However it produced something far superior as Panacea had a number of uses besides curing Poison in this world, it was generally used as an antibiotic. This one I named simply as the P-Potion…Actually that sounds a urination release aid. Let's go with the full name on this one: Pana-Potion, which cured most illnesses and some diseases, along with Poison and Venom negative status in battle.

'It still shows up in my menu as a P-Potion…great.'

 **Acquired: 1x P-Potion**

For now I left item modification for when I had more to play with, but the possibility of selling them had merit, as I could only keep 99 of each item, however I would need to sell them to merchants that dealt outside of the city, as I risked attracting attention for my unique skills by the Queen, or worse yet Kuja. I saw him at distance, a few times since I first met him, thankfully he didn't seem to notice me again.

A noble of Treno, and secret black market kingpin that was turning the Queen into a warmonger for the sake of his own ridiculous goals of ruling the world. However his individual strength was the real issue, a man who had broken every limiter upon himself, while it was a plot point in the game, how had he achieved it in this world, unless he was an avatar character as well, or 'blessed' by the game creators from this world, who somehow were able to influence things here.

'If he ever messages me again, I'll have to ask about that,' Mark mused.

* * *

 _(Later)_

"Morning, Marky," grinned one of the Alexandrian soldiers as they passed in one of the castle's stone corridors. Her name was Alice: level 22. Oh she's levelled up twice in the few months since I'd last saw her. She was one of the ladies who he'd spent time with when he had first started working in the castle, but he had stopped after a few months, as she had an annoying tendency of rating men by a certain something and telling them how they ranked, knowing that Steiner had a bigger dick than him was something that he really didn't need to know. He was slightly offended by her need to even mention it until he saw Steiner in the barrack showers one day, the older man would give a horse esteem issues. If he wasn't so hyper-focused on protecting her majesty and her highness, he'd probably be very popular for casual hook-ups.

"Alice, how are you?" he asked.

"Better than you, heard you got messed up pretty bad, will you still able to keep working here?" Alice asked, she'd heard some rumours that he might be unable to continue being a Knight, someone had heard the General and her sister discussing it.

"I sustained some serious injuries and some new scars, but I'm staying, I'm actually off to the castle armoury now to replace my destroyed equipment, that serial killer really wrecked my gauntlets and sword," Mark replied with an eye roll, as though he hadn't been responsible for many of the kills himself. Thankfully they were being blamed entirely on the dead Black Mage Golem.

"Oh, so that's why you're wearing that shirt and slacks instead of your armour," she noted, eyeing his black shirt and matching trousers. "It suits you better than what you have to wear as a Pluto Knight."

"True," Mark acknowledged with a shrug. "By the way, any information of who the killer was?"

"Unfortunately we still don't know, or if the higher ups know, they're not telling us down here at the bottom."

"A pity," Mark replied. Just as he thought, there was no way the Queen would not recognise the Killer, nor inform the people as to their identity. But he felt compelled to ask. "No matter, well I need to get to Darius, so see ya!" he went to leave.

"Darius! The blacksmith?" Alice enquired, sounding a little worried.

"Yes…Is there something wrong with him?"

"He used to lead the Pluto Knights back when they were a big deal, and before the kingdoms gender reforms, now he's a blacksmith," Alice explained. "But whenever he gets the chance, he likes to test new recruits, and Steiner is happy to let him."

"So I should be ready for a fight?" Mark asked brow quirked.

"Maybe, just remember, he isn't impressed with what the Pluto Knights are anymore," Alice warned before leaving.

"How troublesome…"

* * *

 _(Scene change: the castle smithy)_

 _Clang!_

 _Clang!_

 _Clang!_

"So, are you Darius?" Mark asked, standing before a massively muscular old man, he knew of course, being able to see a person's name and level above their head.

 **Darius Bolg: Level 48**

"Yeah, what do you need, brat?" he asked as he hammered away.

 _Clang!_

 _Clang!_

"Steiner sent me to replace my gauntlet and buckler if your unable to repair them, and I need a new sword as well. My armour's a bit dented too."

"You must be Mark then?"

 _Clang!_

"Yes sir," Mark replied.

"You didn't bring them here?" the blacksmith queried.

"No, I did." He summoned the damaged equipment via the item sack.

"Those are pretty rare," Darius noted. "How did you get one of those?"

"A gift from the mage who taught me as a child, prior to working as a Pluto Knight, I used to use this to transport and sell wares around the kingdom," Mark replied, referencing his earlier lies to his past.

"Hmm, what kind of mage are you?" Darius asked, dunking a sabre into the water to cool, he had just added Man-Eater and stat buffs to it.

"Grey Mage, same as you," Mark answered.

"Well then, bring your equipment over to the workbench over there," Darius pointed to his workspace.

"Will do," as Mark headed towards it, Darius low-kicked him from behind, using his peg leg. Mark jumped over it, tucking in his knees, letting the metal leg sweep below him harmlessly. Mark landed and continued walking towards the work bench to deposit his equipment, not even bothering to look back. He would dismiss the stronger man's actions as **his** retort.

'Good awareness…' Darius noted, as he headed over to view the damaged equipment. It was bad. One gauntlet had been melted at the palm, and severe damage around that. The other which was attached to the buckler had been crushed by a large amount of blunt force, the torso armour was dented in a few places, but that at least could easily be fixed. Darius's eyes flickered over to the new knight, and was surprised as not only the build and musculature that none of the other Private's in the Pluto Knights had, and the way he smoothly, unconsciously prowled, like a beast not a man, indicated that despite what Steiner had told him, this lad had a LOT of fighting experience.

"Here we are…"

"Damn, Steiner wasn't kidding," Darius remarked, returning back to observing the equipment with a professional eye. They were completely totalled. "I can fix the chest plate easy enough, but the rest of this is ruined, I'll grab you replacements, since you lost some Mythril equipment, I'll cut you a break and give you a steel replacement rather than an iron one for the gauntlets and buckler that they normally give the privates."

"Thank you," Mark replied. It was a downgrade from before, but maybe the steel ones would teach him something new, he couldn't remember, but then he hadn't played the game in years and neither had a perfect memory.

Later after trying on his repaired and replace armour and equipment, he observed his reflection in one of the shields on the wall. It wasn't the finest uniform in the Kingdom, but he had oddly missed it. The steel gauntlets and Buckler were in a similar design to my older iron ones, but had an impressive shine, they boosted my spirit and defence slightly, but sadly didn't have any skills I didn't already know.

"Enough preening lad," Darius said, before attacking me out of nowhere with an enormous broadsword made of steel, I could tell though he wasn't being serious, there was no killing intent, and he adjusted the speed of his swing so it hit my weapon when he had time to cut me down.

'Cast: Shell, Shell, Shell, Shell, Shell!' I channelled defensive magic, it didn't stack this time, but it absorbed enough of his force that I could guard against his attack, parry the enormous weapon, and send the Blacksmith skidding back.

Darius let loose an impressed whistle.

"You're good enough lad," he said returning the weapon to the large stack of other blades. Darius approached. Mark lowered his weapon but not his guard. "Do the armour proud."

"Yes sir," Mark replied.

Darius grinned and thumped his on the chest lightly. "Good lad!"

Mark was startled as his menus sounded, a new skill had been activated. "Did you?"

"Steiner told me you used a strong poison spell to fuck up your hand, use this to compensate, otherwise you'll end up losing a hand next time."

"Passive skill: Antibody unlocked."

Antibody…A skill that in the game granted immunity to all poison and venom skills.

'With this I can use my Asag magicks without worry!' Mark thought, mind racing with possibilities.

"Well lad, Steiner's waiting, get to work."

"Yes sir, thank you."

"No problem."

* * *

 _(Scene change: Princess's chambers)_

As Princess Garnet finally got away from the clutches of the maids, she was escorted to the door, where two knights would be waiting for her to accompany her between lessons and the occasional public appearance. It was ever so boring, and the only knight that made her life interesting was currently under long term medical care, with rumours saying he was too badly hurt to remain a member of the Pluto Knights, and she despaired at the thought of this return to tedium being the rest of her life until her mother passed.

The door opened, and Mark stood there, in full armour and a sardonic smile. "Miss me, Garnet?"

Steiner promptly clipped him from behind.

"I mean, Princess?" he corrected himself, with that familiar wink at the end.

"Indeed, I have," she acknowledged.

And Mark, aka Dingir, returned to his position as a Pluto Knight.

 _Fourteen months until the game begins…_

* * *

 **THE END**

 _Next chapter:_ _Journey to Cid (1)_

* * *

We will now be entering into the Cid arc, unfortunately there will be a four month time skip between now and the next chapter, but I need to ramp up the story into start of disk 1. Right now if we stick to plan, we'll be looking at another six chapters.

Also I'm writing two light novels with strong game mechanics, one which will be closely based on this but using a game I made up for him to be sent to, all the spells, characters and such will be changed, but if you want to keep your OC in the light novel adaption, let me know and I'll happily arrange it and give you the credit for it, and if you've published anything, I'll include a link in the contributions/acknowledgements section.

See you all next time, and be sure to read my professional novels and comics, see list below.

* * *

 **(End of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 15, 5800 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 970 / 970

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 43 (59)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 40 (43)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 28 (49)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (28)

 **Weapon:** Iron Sword

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron Armour

 **Accessory:** Steel Gloves

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 1 scrap Mythril, 19 D-Potions, 1 phoenix down, 1 P-Potion, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24458

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers…and then preferably buy some, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback._

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(coming soon)_

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things


	20. LN preview: A bullet, not truck-kun

_A/N: Sorry I haven't been uploading recently, but I've had police and family stuff to deal with lately._

 _SUPER STRESSED!_

 _I should have another chapter out within the month though. In the meantime however, please enjoy a preview from one of the two light novels I'm writing based on this fanfiction, though this one goes in a different direction._

 _I am making this story available for free on this site (for now) as I upload chapter by chapter, volumes on amazon, barnes &noble to follow when I can afford cover artwork. Click on my profile to find this story. (Four chapters currently uploaded.)_

 _Maybe I'll try a kickstarter or something?_

 _What do you think?_

 _Anyway, enjoy._

* * *

 **Another world Hero: who summoned an author to save the world?**

 **Preview: A stray bullet, not truck-kun**

 _'You've got to be kidding me!'_

 _(slowing heartbeat)_

 _'After everything that's happened...'_

 _(coughing blood)_

 _'I get killed like this!'_

 _(slowing heartbeat)_

The author stares up the ceiling of the bookstore, panicked fans and staff surrounding him, one was trying to apply pressure to the gushing wound in his chest, while another called for an ambulance. But they wouldn't make it time, he could tell. He couldn't even feel the pain anymore, his entire body had gone numb. With desperate effort, he lifted a blood soaked hand, regarding it, as his sight began to darken.

 _'I finally succeed in my dream...and I get killed...by a stray bullet?'_

A robbery had occurred nearby, the criminals and police had started shooting at each other, and as they fled to the back of the store to safety, a single ricocheting bullet hit the author right through his heart and lung, heavily damaging the life sustaining organs.

 _(the heart stopped beating)_

 _(a pained gasp)_

The author's eyes began to close, only darkness surrounding him. A single angry thought echoed in his mind _. 'What kind of sick joke is this, what kind of God would let me die like this?'_

 _(He died)_

* * *

 **Scene change: White void**

The author awoke, he was floating in a seemingly endless white void.

"Huh, so there is something after death," he remarked with mild surprise, regarding his surroundings, or rather lack of. "No women, booze, or television...well this is going to suck."

"Well, I don't know about that," said an amused voice behind him, whispered into his ear.

The author heavily elbowed the person in the nose on instinct, turning he batted aside their flailing arms, and readied a punch, while grabbing him by front of his robes with his other arm.

"Please wait!" yelled the stranger in fear, making the author pause. "I mean you no harm."

The stranger was a man in his later years, wearing a brilliantly white robe, and an impossibly well manicured beard, he also had a golden halo hovering above his head.

"So who are you?" the author asked, his features irritated. "And if you say God, I'm going to hit you again."

The stranger began to laugh awkwardly, and refused to answer.

"Seriously?"

"Yep!" The stranger, now known as God replied. "Welcome to the wheel of reincarnation, normally an angel would handle this, but seeing as you weren't meant to die, I figured I would handle your situation myself."

A vein pulsed dangerously on the author's head, his gripped tightened, making God "Eeep!" in distress.

"Care to explain that, I feel some personal responsibility coming from your direction, what was meant to happen, huh?"

God sweat dropped, regretting not sending an angel. "The stray bullet was meant to kill one of your fans, they were destined to become a vile killer in a few years, so we decided to sort things out early, as Hell is getting overly full, but then the bullet just missed that person and got you instead...Sorry about that."

The author promptly head butted God.

"You kill me, ruin my life, take me away from my family, and you say...Sorry about that?!"

"Ouch!" complained God, "on the plus side, when you were dying, the person who was supposed to die tried to stop the bleeding, it traumatised them when you died, and now they're a doctor, so well done," God said with a cheesy grin and a thumbs up.

"That's...It takes years, if not decades to become a Doctor," a sudden sense of dread of hit him. "How long have I been dead?" he asked.

"Hmm? About fifteen years, I'd say?" mused God. "Time is rather different here after all."

The author slumped forward in defeat, letting go of God, who sighed in relief. _'I'm dead anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter.'_

God took a dramatic pose, hearing the man's thoughts, he replied. "It does matter, because we ruined your life and you saved a soul destined for evil, I as the God of this world, I owe you a favour, so how about being reincarnated in another world?" he asked. "We've been doing a lot of that lately, and it seems to work out well, though Truck-kun has been overworking lately...I think he just likes running over Japanese people."

"There's no way I'm being reincarnated," rejected the author. "I refuse to have a second childhood, and I'm not Japanese."

"You're so hard to please!" complained God. "Fine, I'll send you as you are into another world, I'll even give you a blessing, as that world is full of magic and monsters, something to help you out, so what would you like?"

'It's not like I have any better options,' mused the author, the alternative was to stay in this place, or go wherever it was dead people went. "What kind of power?" he asked. "Wait, I actually get to choose?"

"Sure, though there are limits of course, but feel free to be creative," replied God. This part was always fun, some chose some very interesting powers, a recent world traveller had wanted magically powered technology, they really didn't want to let go of the internet.

The author didn't need any consideration on the subject of what power or blessing to choose. "Look into my mind, and see the weapon I created in my Grey Faction series: Balmung. Just give me that."

 _'Balmung?'_ thought God, thinking of the legendary weapon wielded by Siegfried/Sigurd, also known as the Gram, depending on which saga you referenced, the actual origin of that legend was almost as old as the epic of Gilgamesh. God place a hand on the author's head and began reading his mind, he was surprised by the twisted, almost maddened nature of it, yet controlled by a far more ruthless practicality. This human would make an interesting, albeit terrifying world traveller.

God viewed the thousands of thoughts on the custom Balmung's history, form, power, and meaning. It was a tremendous legend in the making, but it was possible to make such a blessing, though he would need to limit it in a few small ways, a living weapon that was one with its host, capable of changing shape and storing limitless power, and using it against new foes. Hundreds of other minor aspects spun together into its legend and myriad of abilities and utilizations. In the saga of the young man's creation, it had devoured countless demons and Gods. He would make this Balmung, but it would be empty, he would have to fill it and grow it with his own efforts.

"Well?" the author asked, the man's features stoic, but a subtle hint of hope, a childish desire built of one who creates. God could understand this, he was much the same.

"It's doable," God replied, "but it won't have demonic power stored inside it, you must feed Balmung yourself," he held out his hand, and a mass of darkness swirled into existence, a predatory killing intent subtly leaked from it. "Here."

The man grinned, something he had created in fiction had been brought to real life. "Heh Heh," he chuckled, and without hesitation he stuck his hand into the mass of darkness. "Come, Balmung," it was spoken softly, but it was clearly an order, and Balmung responded, with a ghastly shriek as it burrowed beneath his skin. The author screamed as invasive agony invaded his body, he fell to one knee, breathing heavily. It was inside of him.

* * *

 **Acquired: (Blessing) Balmung Custom**

* * *

A synthetic voice sounded in his mind, accompanied by a game-like chime.

 _'What the Hell?'_ he thought. Was God ripping ideas right out of manga and light novels?

God began to glow, radiating a power that reflected his position, the author stood before the deity with wide eyes, which faded to be replaced by a grin and a competitive gleam in his eyes. "Next time we meet, I'll be more powerful than you," he wasn't sure why he said it. But it felt right. To be able change a world or circumvent death.

God laughed. "That power is a destroyer, but try and become a creator in this new world if you wish."

Light engulfed the world traveller's senses, it was beginning.

"So what should I call you now?" God asked. "Dingir?" making reference to the wielder of Balmung within the books, one based on the author himself.

"No, I am not so grand yet," he replied. He considered it, he had died in Japan, so why not? translating his name into Japanese, he answered. "For now, call me Midori."

"What a cute name for such a scary looking man," God laughed, and before the now named 'Midori' could retort, the bright lights whisked him away to another world. At that exact moment, a bus of school kids crashed and fell to their deaths, and an old king summoned his kingdom's heroes.

* * *

 **Scene change: Another world**

Midori suddenly found himself in a gigantic throne room, filled with bright colours, gold, and the many nobles and royalty watching me with glee and awe. He looked down, a summoning circle still glittered on the red floor. He had been summoned it seemed, but he wasn't alone. Around him were at least a dozen teenagers, all short, skinny brats, Japanese by their features, but they had ridiculously bright hair colour and eyes, and clearly they were surprised by it as well, before they noticed where they were.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Finas, brave heroes!" announced a man in royal garb, his crown and fingers packed with gold and jewels. "We have summoned you to save our kingdom!"

'Oh fuck this!' thought Midori.

 **\- Preview End -**


	21. Journey to Cid (1)

_**A/N:**_ _I'm currently locked out my laptop, damn thing won't turn on. I'm borrowing my brother's old one, sadly it is very slow for certain things, like typing, but I am thankful he offered it. Unfortunately I can't access a lot of my important files, including four novels I'm working on, so when I next get some money in, I'll order one of those things that let you read the interior memory card or whatever and transfer it to this one, though I'll have to pull apart my old one first. Otherwise I'll probably go on a murder spree if I can't get them back. But on the plus side for my fanfiction, I have potentially up to a week where I can focus some time of my non-profit stories._

 _Also is there's anyone who hasn't okayed my using their OC in the light novel adaptation, please inform me, and if you're not okay with me using it, let me know as well and I'll make the needed changes._

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 16, 4827 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1116 / 1116

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 49 (67)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 46 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 32 (53)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (28)

 **Primary Weapon:** Iron Sword

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron Armour

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 10 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24,966

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER 15**

 _Journey to Cid (1)_

* * *

'This would be a much easier journey if we had an airship too,' thought Mark sourly, ignoring the swirling and writhing of his stomach, that far exceeded that of the stormy waves surrounding the ship. They were currently on route the sibling nation of Lindblum, ruled by Cid, and uncle of Princess Garnet, though Mark didn't know whether it was the fat queen or her deceased husband that was siblings with Cid. He shuddered at the thought of being sold off to a political marriage when it was Brahne that was waiting for you.

Though that was a mean thing to say, but given his knowledge of this world's future events via the game version of this world made by the bastard who had sent him here, it could hardly be helped. Fortunately Mark seldom had to even see her, he had spoken to her once, very briefly, and that was essentially an acknowledgement that he was in the room when she was briefing his Captain, Steiner, for this trip, roughly four months after the events with the rouge Black Mage. Mark had been looking forward to flying the Rose, or whatever it was called from the game, but apparently the Queen hadn't had it made as yet, but as the war grew closer, it probably would, though doubtlessly too late for him to enjoy.

Unfortunately the lack of an airship, meant that they had to take the Queen's royal ship around the coast, and then they would have to march for several days, while the Queen got to laze around in the royal carriage, being pulled by several of her pure blood champion steeds, while a mix of horse riding and marching soldiers would be accompanying them. He was stuck walking, which he didn't want to do, but then his arse wouldn't survive the pounding of having to ride a horse for any length of time, the fat Queen and Garnet would have it easy.

"Ugh!" Mark threw up over the side of the ship, the unpleasant contents immediately mixing and vanishing beneath the waves.

"Wow, you've got it bad," commented Laudo, his fellow Knight of Pluto. All of them were being brought on the trip, along with Beatrix and twenty of her non-commanding elites, all of them being at least level 30, and much stronger than any of them, though with his new powers as a Grey Mage combined with his stacking, Mark was confident that he stood a chance if he played the fight smart. He had created several new spells and items with his grey magic and magic stacking.

"I don't like going on the sea, especially when it's rough like this," Mark groaned, wiping his mouth and spitting away leftover sick and bile.

Laudo offered him, a mug of water, which he gratefully took.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"So have you ever been on the sea before? It's a first for me, but I seem to be okay," Laudo replied.

"Once or twice when I was much younger," Mark replied, thinking back on a few ferry trips as a kid, he used the last of the water to wash away any residue around his mouth and chin. "Thanks again," he added, gesturing with the mug.

"Well it was hard to ignore you puking up, it was funny to see the looks on those girl's faces, I think you've missed out on some potential action with that," Laudo grinned.

"Like we would have space to do anything like that here," Mark snorted, except for the Queen's royal chambers, all the other rooms were tiny, with dozens of hammocks crammed in, three high in some cases. Well certainly in the Pluto Knights case. Steiner and Mark being so large, that they broke their hammocks and had slept on the floor, each with a back against the wall.

"That's true, still I do get jealous sometimes," Laudo surprisingly admitted, which surprised Mark. True, he knew most of them were continually rejected by the ladies, with many of them having to visit brothels to relieve themselves, well when their finances allowed for it, while Mark never needed to, at least not yet.

"Then tone down on the creepiness when you try to woo a woman," Mark suggested, having seen Laudo in action. He was too focused on the end goal of getting the sex, and came across a bit rape-y. Being able to communicate and have fun with a woman was more important, if you couldn't manage that - then forget convincing her to sleep with you.

Back in his original world, Mark had made that discovery after a 'long' dry spell. He had gone clubbing, starved for company, but not expecting to get laid, so he just focused on chatting, dancing, and having fun. He had been so not pursuing the sex goal, that he had been genuinely surprised when one of the ladies he had spent time with that night had given him her number, and something very enjoyable soon after.

"What do you mean creepy?" Laudo demanded angrily, though it was more that he had heard similar and worse things when being rejected.

"You're too focused on getting them to come with you immediately for sex, and it puts pressure on them, so their way more likely to say no, try just chatting with them, have a laugh, you'd be surprised," Mark answered. "At how well you do when you remove 'sex now' attitude out of the occasion."

"Huh? Guess I can try that," Laudo conceded, as he considered it. "Can't really be doing any worse than I am now, I suppose."

Mark kindly and wisely chose not to comment on that.

* * *

 **(Scene change: Beneath the waves)**

Hundreds of feet beneath the ship, a pair of dinner plate sized eyes regarded the bottom of the ship; the creature had smelt waste material and mistaken the ship for a large, potentially sick and therefore weakened prey. Normally it hunted at far greater depths than any human could survive in, but its kind had targeted ships in the past, pulling down smaller ships, or grabbing the humans off the decking to eat.

This one had never done so, but its usual prey was in decline, and using air sacks, it rose to much higher waters, while its six long tentacles reached up, wrapping around the ship. Its beak mouth, hidden beneath its almost phallic shaped body, tasted wood and tar as it bit into the ship, it didn't make a hole, as the tar put it off taking a deeper bite.

Its eyes narrowed in disappointment. Still curious, it began to climb up the ship, though with its air sacks, it could essentially fly, and spotted to creatures on the top of the floating object, little more than a mouthful, but it could smell more of them, there was prey here, and with a shrill croon of delight, its tentacles lashed out at the soon-to-be food.

"Holy shit!" one yelled.

" **Physical Barrier!** " The other yelled, casting a spell, the enormous hunter collided against the feeble magic, its tentacles reaching around the invisible barrier.

The Gigan Octopus was on the hunt.

 _(Insert FF9 battle start music.)_

"It's coming!"

"Draw your sword!"

"I left it inside!"

"Bloody Hell!"

"Lend me your dagger, damn it!"

 _(A/N: Stop running around and fight already!)_

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next Chapter: Journey to Cid (2)_

* * *

 _A/N: Well folks, it looks like we have a cliff-hanger. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry for the delays, but I needed to focus on my professional novels, though given my laptop died, I don't know if that's a mistake or not. Once I get one of those things to transfer data from a dead laptop, I'll hopefully get them back; otherwise I've wasted about half a year, if not more, and trust me, a nearly thirty year old giant bearded man can still have a tantrum._

 _But unpleasantness aside, keep reading my stories, and check out my published ones too, see their titles at the bottom of this chapter. Until next time!_

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers…and then preferably buy some, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback._

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(coming soon) Well we'll see…live laptop!_

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things


	22. Journey to Cid (2)

_**A/N:**_ _I'm currently locked out my laptop, damn thing won't turn on. I'm borrowing my brother's old one, sadly it is very slow for certain things, like typing, but I am thankful he offered it. Unfortunately I can't access a lot of my important files, including four novels I'm working on, I've ordered one of those things that lets you read the interior memory card or whatever and transfer it to this one, though I'll have to pull apart my old one first, sadly the centre screw is proving to be a bitch, but I'll get there…eventually. (Got to be careful or I'll wear away the metal too much, gotta find the right screwdriver.)_

 _Also is there's anyone who hasn't okayed my using their OC in the light novel adaptation, please inform me, and if you're not okay with me using it, let me know as well and I'll make the needed changes._

 _The Light Novel's current working title is:_ _ **Nerfed as a Level 1 in someone else's fantasy world**_ _. The world will be very different to FF9, though with a few vestiges from this fanfiction. All the place names are named after villages in an area in India, mostly because they have two places with very similar names to places in the game, these being Alexandretta and Doli, and it made me laugh. (A pat on the back to those who get that.)_

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 16, 4827 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1116 / 1116

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 49 (67)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 46 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 32 (53)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (28)

 **Primary Weapon:** Iron Sword

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron Armour

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 10 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24,966

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

 _Journey to Cid (2)_

* * *

"Damn it, take my sword," Mark shouted, throwing his fellow knight his weapon. "I'll focus on long range magic, knock away any of its legs that get passed my spells."

"Got it!" Laudo yelled back, catching the sword, drawing, and ducking under the first tentacle, and slashing at it. It didn't cut deep, but the long limb recoiled as the monster let loose a shriek.

"Nice!" Mark called in encouragement, firing multiple Bio spells, but the octopus-like monster was ridiculously fast, additionally it seemed to use air sacks to move up-down-left-right, better than any aircraft Mark had ever seen. Even with his new powers, this was going to be difficult, once an opening presented itself; he'd send his fellow knight for back up from the other Black Mages or Beatrix, whoever could help them.

With his gamer sight, he could see the monster was a Gigan Octopus, level 31, normally that wouldn't be a problem, but its mobility and their side being limited to the ship would make it a tough fight.

" **Bio!"**

It dodges.

" **Bio!"**

It dodges.

" **Bio!"**

It repels it with a tentacle, encased in a club of ice.

'Ice magic?' Mark thought in surprise. He didn't think that this thing could use magic and elemental magic at that.

Mark was then forced to dive to the side, as his own spell went flying towards him. It struck part of the upper ship, and he could hear angry yelling from within. Well at least the rest of the ship knew that they were under attack.

" **Bio!"**

" **Bio!"**

"Fuck! **Bio!"**

He fired several more of his spells, the creature seemed to be immune to poison spells, but the non-elemental aspect of the spell still did damage. Still with its speed, landing a solid hit was going to be tough.

Laudo was doing quite well, he was repelling and dodging the two – three tentacles that the creature spared to hunt him, when it was able to get close to the ship. But Mark wasn't making it easy, even if he was wasting a lot of MP to maintain the near stalemate.

" **SCHREEEE!"** The creature let loose a blood curdling screech, and began charging an enormous ice magic spell, based upon its size; it was at least a Blizzara.

" **Physical Barrier + Magic Barrier!"** Mark cast two of his new stacked magicks, he made it cover the ship, and hopefully it would be enough.

Though to be safe, he cast the lesser versions of the spells, which simply reduced damage to a person, on both himself and Laudo.

" **Protect!"**

" **Shell!"**

It was then he noticed that Laudo was drooling blood, and had several nasty cuts on his arms and armour. It seemed the Gigan had sharp slashing hooks at the centre of its many limbs, much like the giant squid, which were known to fight whales at incredible depths.

" **Cure!"**

" **Regen!"**

He cast an immediate healing spell, and one that would top him up periodically. If the Gigan was using was using magic then he would have to focus on that.

" **BRIGAHHH!"** The monster let loose it enormous ice spell, it was larger than the ship, had it stacked spells to produce something on par with a Blizzaga spell.

'This is bad!' Mark thought, a cold sweat running down his back.

" **Climhazzard!"** a beam of light slashed through the ice, splitting it in two.

"Good timing, General!" Mark praised without looking back, there was only one person in the kingdom with that sword skill.

"What's going on, Private?" she demanded, approaching him, she paused, seeing his strong defensive spell.

"We're dealing with a Gigan Octopus, its only level 31, but it can move in all directions at high speeds – in the water and the air. I haven't been able to land a solid hit," Mark answered. He could sense an increase of Mana; the creature had avoided her sword skill as well. "It dodged your attack as well, despite being right behind that mass of ice."

Beatrix frowned. The Pluto Knight was right, though she noticed several burn-like marks on its body, and several of its tentacles, it seemed that the irritating knight and his fellow had actually done it some harm, however minor.

Then to their surprise, the Gigan's tentacles grabbed the two massive chunks of ice, and then it cast Blizzara right in Beatrix's face, she was forced to guard against it, and in that brief moment, it hurled the chunks at the ship. They struck the two barriers, and the ship was sent careening to the side, thankfully it didn't capsize. Mark felt himself being hit with immense weight as the ice struck his twin barriers. But they shattered, and he was smashed into the decking, cracking it.

He vomited blood, as he felt several ribs crack, but not fully break.

"… **A-Adel's Healing,"** he whispered, as his body glowed green, his wounds healing. This stacked spell had the effect of five cure spells, and assuming you weren't fatally wounded, it fixed you up immediately. That said, he still felt a deep ache as he stumbled to his feet.

"Still alive?" Laudo asked, hurrying over, his borrowed sword black with the creature's blood.

"Just about," Mark replied, blood staining the lower half of his face. "You?"

"Fine, thanks to your spell support," Laudo replied, being surprisingly humble.

"Says the guy who's hurt that monster more than me," Mark grinned back.

The Gigan began to charge another Blizzara.

" **Bio!"**

" **Thunder Slash!"**

He two of them cast almost simultaneously. Mark's Bio cancelled the spell before it could be launched, and as quick as the Gigan moved to dodge, Beatrix's long range slashing move still took two of its legs.

"Nice one!" Mark grinned, happy to see it take some serious damage.

Several arrows then fired towards the creature, along with basic elemental spells, though the creature easily avoided them. Mark glanced back to see about a dozen reinforcements of Beatrix's soldiers, and several black mages, who peppered it with spells.

"Laudo, go explain the situation," Mark said, gesturing to the reinforcements. "Get them to herd it to myself and the General."

"Right!" He hurried over to them, and hurriedly explained the situation, their attacks became more sweeping, leaving dodge/escape routes close to the level 16 Pluto Knight, and the level 99 General.

"You shouldn't order my troops," Beatrix said with a frown.

"They'll assume you said it," Mark shrugged. "What matters is we need a plan, and you haven't volunteered one yet."

"We'll be talking about this later," she warned.

"Excellent," Mark shrugged, making her flush with anger. "I'll counter its spells, you kill it in that opening, use it consecutively if you can."

"…Very well."

"I'm counting on you," he grinned, as Gigan was forced towards them.

"Don't expect me to say it back."

" **Bio!"**

" **Bio!"**

It sent several Blizzard spells to counter his.

" **Stockbreak!"** Another tentacle was sliced off.

It evaded the next few sword slashes.

" **Bio!"** Mark's spell knocked it to the side, right into the path of the next…

" **Climhazzard!"**

This continued for a further ten minutes until all of its tentacles had been cut off.

" **Bio!"**

" **Bio!"**

It fell towards the water

" **Thunder Slash!"** and like that it was finally ended.

Whatever items they might have gotten from the battle disappeared beneath the waves.

Mark fell back on his arse and laughed with a mix of exhaustion and delight. They had survived.

Laudo's level above his head, changed from a ten to an eleven. Thanks to his ability 'Level up' Mark got twice as much experience points as normal, not enough to level up, with the points doled out equally to everyone who had fought, but it had shaved off quite a bit of time until his next level up. Hopefully they'd encounter more monsters on the journey and be able to manage a level up or two. _(But on land this time!)_

 **Level:** 16, 2106 _xp until next level up_.

"Oh, cool, I levelled up," he heard Laudo declare happily.

Later, as his adrenaline returned to normal levels, Mark's queasiness returned. So he returned to the side of the ship, to vomit, so he finally drank an R-Potion made from a Potion and a Remedy, which he took his item sack, which was currently tied to his waist. A Remedy cured most health issues and status ailments but it also cost a day's wages. With any luck, its effects would last until they reached land.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _ **Next Chapter:**_ _Journey to Cid (3)_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Thanks for reading the newest chapter. We'll meet Cid in part 3._

 _And as always, check out my current novels and comics listed below, and buy one._

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers…and then buy some, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback. (Some in Hardback)_

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(coming soon) If I can retrieve the data from my dead laptop._

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things

* * *

 **(End of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 16, 2106 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1116 / 1116

 **MP:** 659 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 49 (67)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 46 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 32 (53)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (28)

 **Primary Weapon:** Iron Sword _(Laudo gave it back afterwards.)_

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron Armour

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24,966


	23. Journey to Cid (3)

_**A/N:**_ _Still unable to undo the main screw in the laptop, guess I'll have to go shopping, and bring my laptop with me. Still this is my fourth chapter in a week. Not bad._

 _Also, the Light Novel's current working title is:_ _ **Nerfed as a Level 1 in someone else's fantasy world**_ _. Keep an eye out for it on Amazon later in the year. All the place names are named after villages in an area in India, such as Alexandretta and Doli. (A pat on the back for those who get that ref.)_

 _Also, let's see some reviews from someone other than just Warwick. (Thanks as always though buddy.)_

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 16, 2106 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 872 / 1116

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 49 (67)

 **Speed:** 31 (26)

 **Spirit:** 46 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 32 (53)

 **Magic:** 75

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 16 (28)

 **Primary Weapon:** Iron Sword

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron Armour

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung strike

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24,966

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

 _Journey to Cid (3)_

* * *

Their march from the coast to the trade gates of Lindblum took nearly three full days. In that time, they had been attacked relentlessly by mist monsters as these areas where not dealt with by scouting forces, as was done outside the gates of Alexandria. With air travel being the norm, Lindblum had little need to, especially so far out from the walled, multi-levelled city.

Mark levelled up four times in those few days. With the Experience points being shared out via group combat, all of the Pluto Knights levelled up. Steiner got up to level 28, and his colleges got up as high as levels thirteen to sixteen. Some of Beatrix's soldier's also levelled up, but not as much, as they were much higher levelled than the Pluto Knights were to begin with. Mark been required to stay near the carriage, but he blasted at the various monsters with long range Poison and Bio spells, while using supporting magic on those around him, such as Protect and Shell. He didn't use his stacked magic; he dared not do so in front of her Majesty.

After such battles, Garnet went around healing anyone who was injured with her white magic, despite her Mother's suggestions to remain inside the carriage. Mark noticed she had levelled up slightly, she was currently level 5, and given that she wasn't allowed to enter combat, she was doing well. He had given her a few more knife lessons prior to the trip when their schedules when had allowed. She had been practicing in her room most nights, shaving an hour or two off her scheduled sleep time, one of the few times she had alone. He had Darius make a blunt iron knife that was four times heavier than the normal variety, and gave it to her to use in practice, to help build the muscles needed for that type of fighting, and improve her speed if she used a regular knife.

Mark sadly had to avoid Garnet's healing rounds, as it was part of his punishment.

After giving orders in the presence of a superior officer, and being dismissive of her, a General at that, he was sentenced to twenty lashes for insubordinate behaviour. Thankfully it was not done with an audience, only the Queen, Beatrix, and the muscular woman holding the whip were present. Fortunately it was Emilia, and she definitely went easy on him, never the less his back was crisscrossed with shallow red cuts, which burned with each lick of the whip. He had held back on screaming, gritted his teeth, letting out a faint grunt with each hit.

Mark had been required to kneel during the punishment, hands on the ground, his bare back exposed. His lumberjack torso was littered with scars from his original world, as well as the Goblin Assault, which had given him a number of stab wounds. Now his once clear back was also disfigured, save for his shoulder, which had already been scarred front and back after one un-dead Goblin had punched its weapon all the way through him.

"I trust next time you will show more respect to your superiors," Queen Brahne stated, the gleam in her eye showing she had taken pleasure in the show, the sadistic bitch. Eyes roving over his old scars and fresh wounds with a show of interest he found honestly disturbing. "Your usual work quality and my daughter's fondness of you can only go so far in protecting you. You're fortunate, Private, that the monster was dealt with without any losses."

"Yes, your Majesty," Mark stated quietly, forcing himself to keep his features stoic, hiding his contempt, as he struggled back to his feet.

"Next time, it will be fifty," Beatrix stated, her gaze neutral.

"Understood, General."

* * *

His wounds had been bandaged, but still stung and throbbed. Per the General's orders, he was not to use healing magic or items until the lashes healed naturally, meaning that they would definitely scar. As Mark marched, he tried to keep his back straight and shoulder's stiff to keep from pulling on his wounds any further. Steiner hadn't been happy about, beyond a personality conflict, his soldier had done a good job, helping to defend the ship carrying the ruler and heir of the Alexandrian kingdom, and had been whipped for it. He wouldn't dare question his Queen, but his interactions with Beatrix were noticeably frosty.

They finally passed through the massive trade gate which led into their sibling kingdom.

'Wow!' Mark internally exclaimed as he saw the sheer magnitude and beauty of Lindblum, the game graphics on the PS1, and even the HD remake on PS3 failed utterly to capture its magnificence. The city was surrounded on all sides by mountains, protecting them from conventional attack. The city had many levels to it, many homes and businesses built into the walls, the castle at its centre was gigantic as well, large enough to fit its full army of airships.

The technology had been built by Cid the seventh, the game creators little shout-out to the rocket building Cid from Final Fantasy 7 game, it was he who defeated Alexandria in the long and numerous conflicts, becoming the most powerful nation on the planet. Lindblum was now ruled by Cid the Ninth, a reference to his being the ninth Cid in the ninth game in the Final Fantasy games.

'I can see why Brahne feels jealous of Lindblum; I'm surprised in a way that they never sold their technology outside of their country…though I suppose it's the edge that keeps them safe, regardless of the Queen's jealousy.'

Unlike the game, the walled city was spread over a massive area; Mark would later learn that it covered a similar size to London, not including its many mountainous communities, and farmlands outside the wall. As they drew near, they were met with by the local forces, who after polite exchanges with the royalty and higher ranked, then formed an escort, banners raised of both nations, like miniature parade.

They were met with cheers from obvious actors and plants, with regular civilians later joining in. The Queen however seemed to lap up the attention, waving demurely from her carriage."

* * *

Eventually they made it to castle itself, where they were met by King Cid and Queen Hilda, backed by their elites.

"It's good to see you again after so long, Brahne," Cid smiled, kissing her on the hand, and waxing poetic about her and Garnet, the usual empty pleasantries that often hid nasty intentions.

"Indeed, I trust our rooms and refreshments are ready for us, it has been quite the tiring trip."

"But of course."

Mark calmly regarded each of the new arrivals, memorising their appearances, names, and titles, unlike the game and its cartoonish style, these were actual people, so they didn't look the same.

The day before they had been informed that the Pluto Knights, save the Captain would be guarding the Queen, Princess and others while they slept, meaning that once this nonsense was done, he had the rest of the day off until night came. During the day, Beatrix's soldiers would guard them, while within the castle itself, Beatrix and Steiner alone would be on guard duty, remaining close to their two charges.

Later after being shown the rooms that were for the servants accompanying royal or noble guests, Steiner dismissed them for the day.

"Knights, until 8pm you are relieved of duty, at which point you will meet up in the main waiting hall prior to the throne room, you must be in full gear, it must be pristine, and you must be on your best behaviour. Any actions here will reflect on her Majesty, and you do not wish to earn her ire, or mine." Steiner ordered sharply, all of us stood proudly at attention.

Mark noticed Steiner's gaze flicker to him, when he said, 'Queen's ire' as though saying, 'as you well know.' Mark nodded back in understanding to his Captain. Once he left, Mark stripped off his armour and put on his favourite black shirt, black slacks, and boots, wincing occasionally because of the pain in his back. Mark also wore the traveller's sack strapped to his back, and wore the Mythril Dagger belted to his waist, Mark put the rest away.

He had a limited amount of free time, and only a fairly short number of days to increase his weapons and armour prior to the game starting, when they would come here after Garnet is kidnapped/rescued by Zidane and the Tantalus thieves. But that was a long time away, and he wanted to gain as many new abilities and skills from equipment on this trip while he could.

"Well, I'm off shopping, see you guys later," Mark said to his fellow Knights, some of whom were already resting, and others planned to explore the massive city.

"Take care!"

"Don't be late; you don't want another lashing, right?"

"Very funny, Haagen."

"I'm going to try out moves on the Lindblum ladies," Lauden declared.

"Yeah...Good luck with that."

"No really, I got some advice I want to try out."

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 **Next Chapter:** _Weapons, armour, and Freya?_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Thanks for reading the newest chapter._

 _And as always, check out my current novels and comics listed below, and buy one._

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers. Available in Kindle/eBook, and Paperback. (Some in Hardback)_

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(coming soon) If I can retrieve the data from my dead laptop._

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things

* * *

 **(End of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 20, 7041 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1673 / 2126

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 52 (70)

 **Speed:** 33 (28)

 **Spirit:** 46 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 40 (61)

 **Magic:** 78

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 28 (40)

 **Primary Weapon:** Iron Sword

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron Armour

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin - level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24,966


	24. Weapons, armour, and Freya?

_**A/N:**_ _Finally got that screw undone that was keeping me from getting the hard drive out of my laptop, but it was mother that sorted that issue. One of those, 'out of the way, just let me do it.' That makes you feel useless, but who cares! Sadly it didn't include the desktop data, what I actually needed, so I might need to send it off for repairs, which I can't really afford right now. Hopefully when I can, they'll fix it and I'll have my desktop data back._

 _Now in collaboration news, I'll be doing a light novel with manga accompaniment with fellow author, Andre Duggan. It will be a sequel of sorts to the Secret Yuuki novels, but will be out of the original timeline, someone's messing with reality! I will be posting a kickstarter on my profile page at a later date to help fund the artwork as we're both kind of skint right now, plus I'm still in debt from the last big project that I funded by myself and the company pulled a fast one on me. (Don't trust Author House – they oversell themselves.)_

 _In more creatively geared news, I am currently making a comic which briefly covers the major events of my Grey Faction book: Arrival of the Grey Queen for those too lazy to read books, and to have something else to sell at comic cons. Oh, on that note, I'll be at_ _ **Meanwhile - Chichester comic con**_ _on the 29th September 2018, if you want a_ _ **signed copy**_ _of_ _ **Jinhai's Justice**_ _, come visit. As always, the unsigned version can be brought on Lulu, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble for £5-£6. If you see me about, whether in the UK, or in other countries when I'm back on tour, stop me and I'll happily sign my comics or books for you._

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 20, 7041 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1713 / 2126

 **MP:** 999 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 52 (70)

 **Speed:** 33 (28)

 **Spirit:** 46 (49)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 40 (61)

 **Magic:** 78

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 28 (40)

 **Primary Weapon:** Iron Sword

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Headwear:** Iron helm

 **Armour:** Iron Armour

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler

 **Skills:** Minus Strike

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 24,966

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

 _Weapons, armour, and Freya?_

* * *

"You take a right, go straight for about ten minutes, and take the third left, and that'll get you to the business district gondola lifts," said a construction worker, who thankfully had been willing to talk to Mark, who had quickly gotten lost, the sheer scale of the cities size between the game and reality was vast.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Mark replied, as he made his way towards the stores that sold weapons and armour. He couldn't perfectly remember everything they sold; he had far from a perfect memory, despite his high IQ. However he was confident that there at least a few things that would benefit him within his budget, and he wanted to amass a number of weapons that he can switch about instantly with his item sack, different weapons to suit the situation. Mark had already experimented between his swords and the Goblin daggers, and could switch in about a second. In the Dingirverse books, his avatar could switch and summon weapons and forms by using Balmung, though the exorcist seldom needed it. But with the different effects that magical weapons had, such an edge would prove helpful.

Getting to the weapon store finally, he began to examining what was available. There wasn't much that that taught new skills, or surpassed his main sword and Mythril Dagger, but there was certainly something for him. "Oh, here we go!" They had an **Ice Brand** , a magic two-handed sword with a tri-pointed tip and sloped hilt, which was suited to parrying, rather than guarding.

"Interested?" asked the shopkeeper. His name was Edwin, according to the name that was floating above his head that only Mark could see. He was also a level 8, but that was of no importance as he wasn't going to fight him.

Mark nodded. "May I?" he asked, gesturing to the sword.

Edwin lifted it from display, and held it out. Mark took it, it was heavier than it looked, his elbow twinged ever so slightly. But once he was holding it correctly, and adjusted his balance and stance to suit the sword, he didn't have any troubles; the weapon was suited to large swings, if its balance was any indication, top heavy, but handy for overhead-downward slashes.

'Let's see…' Mark performed several flowing slashes, watching the ice magic trailing behind its edge. It was equipped with the passive attack add-on 'Freeze' and had the learnable sword skill; Mental Break. It also increased his strength higher than either of his main weapons.

"I'll take this," Mark said with a grin.

"Thank you sir, that'll be 3780 Gil."

"Good price, but I want to see what else you have as well." Edwin's bearing improved. "I require a number of different weapons, and armour, which is superior to military grade Iron."

'Military grade?' thought a demi-human woman, who was browsing for a new spear, as hers had broken recently. 'A soldier?' she mused, a mixture of curious and suspicious. He wasn't a human of Lindblum, far too tall and thickly built, and his complexion was paler, more likely a Treno human, as their city state received little sunlight. But while largely independent, it was still under the rule of the Alexandrian Queen, Brahne. 'What is an Alexandrian soldier doing here?' As while this land was currently at peace, it was due to the military superiority of Lindblum, and not from trade or good intentions. It was ultimately not her business, she had a search to continue for her lost love, Sir Fratley, and for that she needed a new weapon. So she focused back on that for the most part, browsing amongst the goods as the stranger was led about.

"But of course sir," the shopkeeper replied, and from there he showed Mark a number of options, though being able to see what the stats and infused skills/magic of each weapon saved a lot of time, though most were mundane weapons rather than the variety he needed.

He ultimately decided on a tri-pointed spear used by Demi-humans, poorly named the ' **Javelin**.' Its strength damage was nothing special, but its length, and his training with staff weapons back on Earth would serve him well as an alternative to a sword, a different weapon for different opponents. A spear gave a 75% advantage against a sword, but there was another reason he had picked this weapon. Mark casually spun it about himself with the ease of experience; fortunately staff techniques were one of the abilities he worked to unlock from the nerfing fog of when he was made a level one…well after the Goblin invasion, when he realised he could. He had been taught to use a staff by a Wadou-ryuu Karate master as a child, along with killing method Karate, and other weapons, in particular the katana, and projectiles such as kunai and Shuriken. Plus this spear had a very cool, learnable ability.

'He can use a spear rather well, not bad,' the demi-human thought briefly as she weight tested a few spears. Though the Javelin the human was playing with might be suitable for her people's dragon slaying style, what with the spear's wide surface area that was provided by the tri-point. 'Perhaps I'll get one of those myself.' She later found out it had the ability **Dragon Killer** to deal double damage against the fire breathing beasts, and quickly brought one for her own use.

"Yeah, I'll take this…" Mark said, handing it back to the shopkeeper. "While we're on still on the weapon front, do you have any throwing weapons, preferably something small and sharp, like a dirk or kunai?"

Mark had a great love of small blades, easy to hide on one's person, and they had saved his life on more than one occasion in his youth, though pulling one out in a bathroom brawl in school had gotten him into a lot of trouble with the teachers, and a little trouble with the law. But this world didn't have laws for carrying, as it was a world of magic, weapons, and death, and made no pretence of what life was. Also his mother wasn't here to bust his balls and recommend to police he be put in a cell overnight to teach him a lesson.

 _(A/N: That actually happened.)_

"Sorry, I'm not familiar with those names, but if you want throwing weapons, might I suggest these, **Pinwheels**." Edwin took him to the other side of the store in the back, showing Mark a variety of Chakram, a circular throwing disk, a weapon from the Silat fighters of Indonesia, who used jungle warfare to terrifying effect, even against modern weapons like guns. The Chakrams they sold here were simple in design, blue and silver in colour. No spikes or serrated edges, however upon lightly touching one's edge, it drew blood, cutting deep, it was clearly sharper than it looked.

"Sir, please be careful!"

"Cure," a brief green light appeared, and the cut immediately healed, he limited its effect to his finger only, as he couldn't break his healing order from the General and Queen, sadistic bitches would probably check. "It's fine. For now I'll take twenty of these." Unlike the game, it wasn't like the throwing weapons would vanish after being thrown, assuming you were able to retrieve them after combat, that is.

* * *

 _Total cost: 8860 gil._

 **Current funds remaining:** 16106 gil.

* * *

After that, they rang up his purchases, and he added them to his item sack, then he headed to an armoury several streets over, as the weapon shop didn't sell any defensive gear beyond the basics, and Mark needed imbued items for his use.

Once there, he was disappointed by the selection, he went to the synthesists, but like the game you had to supply materials and specific weapons, which didn't suit his money and time restraints. Eventually he found an armoury connected to the mercenary guild, it had dozens of small branches around the continent, and mostly supplied merchants and minor noblemen with guards and escorts. They also traded a great deal with their own brand of stock, often using their employees to scout good trade routes and potential business opportunities while also guarding or escorting said merchants.

Mark considered gaining a patent and selling some of his special potions as a business opportunity, he would need to save it for tomorrow, as he only a few hours to spare, before returning to the castle, he would need to make some enquiries with them, and around the city to make sure they didn't pull a fast one on him due to ignorance of their trading laws.

He did manage to find several new pieces of gear for his use.

Firstly **Chain Plate** , an undershirt of chainmail, that added to his strength and defence stats, it could also easily be worn underneath regular armour. More importantly, it taught the ability Devil Killer, doubling his attack effectiveness against demonic type monsters, which would prove helpful much later in the game against the more terrifying mist monsters.

Next was **Headgear** , which supposedly made you popular, not that Mark brought it for that, he saw a reasonable amount attention from the fairer sex due to his charm and lack of medieval views typical to most men here, besides it looked like a glorified leather chinstrap to protect the sides and lower half of his head, he'd just stitch into into the padding his helm. Its looks aside, it did however half water element damage, and Mark planned to use Grey Magic to extract it from the item and graft it to himself. He had figured out the trick for it when Darius had shared Antibody with him to protect him from his own 'super poison' spell, **Asag's Toxin** , Headgear also taught the ability, **Undead Killer** , so he would be wearing it first to learn that, before he went the Grey Magic route.

Finally was the **Leather Wrist** , a simple arm protection that raised one's spirit, as well as physical evasion and magic evasion, and like the chain mail, he could easily wear it with his usual Pluto Knight armour. It also taught a useful ability, **Beast Killer** , which would prove helpful, as many mist monsters fell into this category.

* * *

 _Total cost: 1175 gil._

 **Current funds remaining:** 14931 gil.

* * *

Returning to the castle, allowing himself time to eat, visit the toilet, a quick shower, ask (beg) one of the knights to re-bandage his half-healed torso, and get changed back into his armour for guard duty, it had been an overall productive first day. Such as gaining a resistance to one type of elemental magic, as well as the double killing power against fellow humans, bug monsters, dragons, devils, the undead, and even beasts, if you included those he had learnt previously.

Tomorrow he would try at being the merchant that he had once pretended to be, and if there was time, Mark would leave the city to face Lindlum's local mist monsters for some level grinding. As now he had Bio and Magic Stacking, now he could finally be considered a threat to many monsters.

 _But for now…_

"Good evening, your highness, your majesty…and General," Mark gave them two quick bows and a salute, _(in that order.)_ "I trust you had a pleasant day so far?"

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 **Next Chapter:** _Meeting the Protagonist_

* * *

 **(End of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 20, 7041 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1822 / 2126

 **MP:** 993 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 52 (88)

 **Speed:** 33 (28)

 **Spirit:** 46 (50)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 40 (71)

 **Magic:** 78

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 28 (47)

 **Primary Weapon:** Ice Brand (freeze add-on)

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Weapons available to switch out:** Iron Sword, Goblin Dagger, Javelin, Pinwheels x20

 **Headwear:** Iron Helm + Headgear

 **Armour:** Iron Armour + Chain Plate

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler + Leather Wrist

 **Skills:** Minus Strike, Mental Break

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit, Dragon Killer, Devil Killer, Undead Killer, Beast Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 14931

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Thanks for reading the newest chapter._

 _And as always, check out my current novels and comics listed below, and buy one._

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback. (Some in Hardback)_

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Arrival of the Grey Queen _(coming soon)_

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(Currently on hold)_

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things


	25. Meeting the Protagonist, part 1

_**A/N:**_ _Hey everyone, long time no see, as mentioned previously my laptop died, and I haven't got my data back, which has set me back on all my stories, my newest Vampire Attack novella in particular, along with the detailed plans I had for this story, but I more or less remembered what I had planned for this chapter, so here we go. Also I was writing a light novel earlier so if you spot a 1_ _st_ _person perspective out of place, let me know. I think I edited them all, but I'm sleepy, 3am, and 5am the last two nights writing._

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 20, 7041 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1822 / 2126

 **MP:** 993 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 52 (88)

 **Speed:** 33 (28)

 **Spirit:** 46 (50)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 40 (71)

 **Magic:** 78

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 28 (47)

 **Primary Weapon:** Ice Brand (freeze add-on)

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Weapons available to switch out:** Iron Sword, Goblin Dagger, Javelin, Pinwheels x20

 **Headwear:** Iron Helm + Headgear

 **Armour:** Iron Armour + Chain Plate

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler + Leather Wrist

 **Skills:** Minus Strike, Mental Break

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit, Dragon Killer, Devil Killer, Undead Killer, Beast Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 _(Possible stacking ideas, Bio Pestilence, Mass Cleansing, Frozen Time, Eagle Eye – using unused spells) – delete this on fanfiction_

 **Trance:** Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 14931

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER NINETEEN**

 _Meeting the protagonist, part 1_

* * *

Returning to the castle, Mark allowed himself time to eat, visit the toilet, a quick shower, ask (beg) one of the knights to re-bandage his half-healed torso, and get changed back into his armour for guard duty, it had been an overall productive first day in Lindblum. Like gaining a resistance to one type of elemental magic, as well as the double killing power against fellow humans, along with bug monsters, dragons, devils, the undead, and even beasts, if you included those he had learnt previously. All this would be helpful going forward, and once he no longer needed the items equipped to use these skills/magic/abilities, he would be able to use these options in his grey magic for others, like his future party once the events of the game started.

Tomorrow he would try at being the merchant that he had once pretended to be, and if there was time, Mark would leave the city to face Lindblum's local mist monsters for some level grinding. As now he had Bio and Magic Stacking, now he could finally be considered a threat to many monsters.

The following day after a night of guard duty, Mark slept for perhaps four hours, before bathing, styling his hair differently and dressing his formal shirt and slacks before sneaking out to visit the merchant's guild, wearing his Mythril dagger on his hip, and item sack strapped on the top and bottom like a slanted rucksack.

After showing his items to a clerk who worked there, he was ushered into a private room. Minutes passed before a portly man with a genial demeanour, but sharp eyes entered the room, followed by a slightly younger woman, who was all business, her gaze analysing me with unsettling focus.

"So you must be the man who brought me this?" the portly fellow said, holding up one of the potions Mark had given him. It was an R-Potion, which healed most medical ailments and battle status effects, while also healing twice as much HP as an ordinary potion. It was the best he could create with his current skills and item availability. With High Potions as a base, Mark knew he could make something much better, but for now, this was enough. The P-Potions were already so all-purpose that they were revolutionary compared to what was sold, which was exactly his intention.

Mark nodded. "Yes, that's correct."

"My name is Andrew Brewer, the head of this branch," he said by way of introduction.

"Mark Green."

The man took a seat on the couch opposite him, setting down the potion he had given them, it was half empty. They must have tested it, not believing the scan magicks they doubtlessly had. They woman remained standing, still observing him, it was unsettling, but Mark didn't allow it to show on his features.

"Where did you get it?" he asked, sounding very enthusiastic, leaning forward.

"I made it," Mark replied.

The woman made an amused noise, obviously not believing him.

"R-Really?" Andrew stuttered, his emotions mixed between hope and disbelief.

"Indeed," Mark said firmly. "I am a Grey Mage of no small skill, bring one of your own brand potions and I'll change it here in front of you."

Andrew Brewer nodded, "Reina dear, a potion, if you please?"

She removed one from a pouch on her hip, too small to hold a bulky potion bottle, probably a storage item like my sack, and handed it to Andrew, who then placed it on the small table between them. They were probably expecting Mark to say it was his, or at least prepared for the possibility. Mark was neither young or old, but he did look older than he appeared, it wasn't impossible to think he had decades of practice, and thanks to Mark's high intellect, creativity, and the game assisted mechanics of his avatar's powers, he probably had a much easier time than the natives of this once fictional fantasy world.

Gathering his magic and focus, Mark placed a palm above the potion, and the complicated collection of magic circles surrounded the healing item, it vanished inside the pocket dimension where he could add his influence. Mark added both mana and anti-venom, he wasn't going to use up one of his expensive items to perfectly recreate an R-Potion, but it produced a P-Potion, double healing plus removing any poison or toxin. It took perhaps ten seconds before the sickly green potion appeared on the table as his grey magic circles vanished.

"I call it a Pana-Potion, twice the effectiveness of a normal potion, additionally contains the spell Panacea." Mark held it out to the merchant leader, who took it with shaking hands. "I have several unique potions like this, I am will to sell an exclusive trade deal with you on several conditions."

"What are your conditions?" Andrew asked with shaking hands as he used scan. He then glanced to Reina, "Could you make something this quickly?" he asked.

She shook her head, oh so she was a Grey Mage as well? "No his speed is dozens of times faster than anyone we have, not including the quality of his work…its perfect." She then lowered her head briefly to Mark. "My apologies for not believing you made this."

"Its fine," Mark replied dismissively, "now about my conditions."

"Of course!"

"First, I wish to keep my involvement secret to the public eye, at least for now. I'm currently working under foreign nobility in another capacity, and I don't trust them with these. So do not trade or sell these to Alexandria."

"Given our wars with them in the past, I have no problems with this. What else?"

"I am only here in Lindblum briefly so a place for the normal potions and ingredients I require for production must be sent to me in the castle city and then transported back. Perhaps the local merchant guild in the city if you trust them, or a warehouse I can access when my schedule allows while you handle the rest. I am willing to go for 70/30 in your favour in exchange for handling everything besides the production itself."

Andrew considered it. "We have several small places on the docks, yes, that can be arranged. However I will need to know where to find you."

"Alexandria castle, Pluto Knights wing," Mark replied. They looked startled; the Pluto Knights fall from grace was not common knowledge outside of the walled city itself. "If you cannot arrange contact with me safely, send a letter, or find me at the Queen Ann's pub in the west-lows, I often drink there."

"For a knight of the royalty to not trust his own rulers with his superior potions, how interesting," said the merchant with shrewd eyes, he had figured out why Mark didn't want to give the country an edge. Every major merchant was a part time spy for their royalty, selling off any information they heard on their travels. It was one of the things that gave Cid and edge over other nations.

Mark smiled grimly, he was taking chances here. "Think whatever you like, I don't care if you tell any Tom, Dick, or _Cid_ ," Mark said dismissively, though putting on a slight emphasis on the name Cid, hoping the merchant was smart enough to pass it on to the King. A little paranoia would be helpful for getting Cid to arrange Garnet's kidnapping on her 16th birthday.

"Anything else?" Andrew prompted.

"One more," Mark replied. "I want you to charge higher rates to military and nobility whenever you can get away with it and lower rates to the poor. Healing items shouldn't only be for the rich."

They continued their discussions for several hours. At their prompted he tested on how many he could make at once, 99 was the answer. Meaning he could make tens of thousands easily on his days off or at night now that he was no longer hunting criminals for experience points. Eventually all the info was exchanged and contracts were signed. He would be contacted within a month to begin making his special potions at the location in the Alexandrian docks.

This deal could potentially make him millions of Gil, and with that he could mass purchase the best items and equipment and learn as many skills and abilities as possible for the journey ahead, as well as outfitting the rest of the FF9 team. He had other ideas as well, but he first needed to build a relationship of goodwill and trust with the Lindblum's merchant guild that came from more than a good business deal. Those were matters of the future.

It was a little after ten o'clock while passing through the theatre district, on route to the city exit, where he planned to monster grind, Mark spotted a familiar monkey tailed gnome. He got off and immediately went in search of the then fifteen year old thief. Mark wasn't sure why exactly, but he lived in this fantasy world, and he had just seen the soon-to-be main character of the tale. He followed at a distance; he was heading to the same tavern Zidane had frequented in the game. Since Zidane had training as a thief and was a denizen of the underworld, Mark instead went into a few other shops first, and then went into the tavern.

Mark took a seat at the bar, but a good distance from Zidane; he seemed to be in good health, flirting heavily with the barmaid who was almost old enough to be his mother. Mark smiled faintly at the boy's antics, before ordering a drink himself, then a few more, relaxing slightly, he was about to leave, his curiosity sated for the moment after listening to the lad chatting with others, when a dagger firmly pressed against his throat.

'Cast: Shell, Cast: Physical Barrier,' Mark instantly silently cast, one reducing potential damage, the other, he moulded around his skin as invisible armour. He then slowly tried to reach for his dagger, but the oversized kitchen knife only dug deeper, applying pressure, but no longer able to break his skin, Mark heard Zidane curse at being unable to draw blood, probably planning to go the intimidation route.

"Mind telling me why you've been following me?" Zidane asked quietly but firmly, the few other patrons, and employees ignored them both at that point, it was probably common in a district secretly overrun with career criminals.

Mark chuckled. "Mind telling me how your search for the blue light is going?" he asked, mentioning something extremely personal to him. Zidane froze for a moment.

Suddenly Mark leant forward onto the knife, trapping it with his chin. He twisted, pulling Zidane forward and off balance to the side. An elbow strike came to meet him, knocking the much smaller lad unconscious, and given he was only level ten and Mark was level twenty, it wasn't surprising.

"Nice try, kid." Mark said while rubbing his neck, fortunately there was no cut; the spells had done their job. His back was stinging a bit from his sudden movement, but he could tough it out.

Then a club struck Mark's chest, and smashed him through the bar itself, thanks to his defensive spells, he avoided broken ribs, but he did lose some HP. He lay there, faking defeat, ready for the follow up attack, but it didn't come. It was one of the patrons that had attacked him, while another grabbed Zidane and slung him over his shoulder.

"Still alive, huh? Well thanks for knocking Zidane out, saved me the trouble, kid owes me a lot of money, and there's no Baku to save his monkey hide, this time."

'Oh great, what now?' Mark thought as they ran out, easily standing up, brushing away the splintered wood and ignoring the barmaid's glare. 'If they kill him, it'll mess up the plot…better take care of this quickly.' Mark hurried after them as they took a series of backstreet paths that that eventually led down and outside the castle, close to the dragon gate, via a secret tunnel, likely carved over decades for illegal purposes. Zidane was tied up at this point, and thrashing about.

They dumped Zidane a good distance away, before pouring an amber liquid over him. In the distance, they all heard the mist monsters react to the smell, it was a drug used to lure in monsters for their yearly hunting tournament. "If you survive kid, I'll expect the money on time next month, if you die; we will consider it square with this." They hurried back up the tunnel as the noises grew louder. Mark had hidden behind a scraggly bush, meagre cover, but given their haste, he had gotten away with it.

Zidane had already begun cutting the ropes, when a massive roar sounded, Mark looked up.

"Is that a Grand Dragon?" he muttered, his dark hair beginning to turn black and lengthen as the trance that he kept suppressed through his level ups burst forth as he felt despair. The Grand Dragon, level 60.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 **Next Chapter:** Meeting the Protagonist, part 2

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Thanks for reading the newest chapter. No end of chapter stats this time, as no changes yet._

 _And as always, check out my current novels and comics listed below; they'd make good Christmas gifts. (Hint, hint.) ;)_

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback. (Some in Hardback)_

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(Currently on hold)_

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **Corpses 'N' Things**

 **Monsters 'N' Things**

 **Vampires 'N' Things**


	26. Meeting the protagonist, part 2

_**A/N:**_ _Yo, bet you thought this story was dead, but much like me, you were mistaken, we live, though I nearly bled out recently after going in for surgery twice this year, and it had nothing to do with the surgery, which were pretty minor, and now my stomach has a hole in it due to my medicine wearing out the lining, WTF? Anyways, please enjoy the newest update, and long overdue Christmas present. Yes, it's been that long, and I'm sorry._

* * *

 **(Start of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 20, 7041 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1822 / 2126

 **MP:** 933 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 52 (88)

 **Speed:** 33 (28)

 **Spirit:** 46 (50)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 40 (71)

 **Magic:** 78

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 28 (47)

 **Primary Weapon:** Ice Brand (freeze add-on)

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Weapons available to switch out:** Iron Sword, Goblin Dagger, Javelin, Pinwheels x20

 **Headwear:** Iron Helm + Headgear

 **Armour:** Iron Armour + Chain Plate

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler + Leather Wrist

 **Skills:** Minus Strike, Mental Break

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit, Dragon Killer, Devil Killer, Undead Killer, Beast Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni, Balmung Blaster

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 14931

* * *

 **A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?**

 **CHAPTER TWENTY**

 _Meeting the protagonist, part 2_

The fire breath that burst from the Grand Dragon's fanged maw should have burned him and Zidane to a crisp, the difference between their levels was far too severe. However Mark had been fast enough to cast his barrier spell, it had cracked and been blasted away in mere seconds, such was its force and heat. However Mark had managed to grab Zidane in that brief instant, scooping him up in one arm, before creating another magic barrier as he tried to get some distance. The second barrier lasted about as long as the first.

"You okay, Zidane?"

"Urgh… Somehow," Zidane replied. "Can you do anything against that dragon?"

Mark considered it, with enough Bio's, or if he got lucky with the sleep/Hypnos spells, he could win against even this flying beast, but its sheer size, speed, and the amount of MP it would take, was an issue. "It's not 0%, but I'd say your prayers just to be safe."

"I don't believe in God."

"Well let's hope you don't have to find out today." Mark almost laughed, as he watched the Grand Dragon, who seemed curious that the walking meat snacks had yet to be cooked despite two attempts with its mighty flame breath.

'I need to stack spells, even if I use up all my MP in a short fight, half arsed methods won't work.' Mark thought, sweat streaming down his face, though most of it wasn't due to the raised temperature. A deep, almost nostalgic fear seemed to creep on him, as though he had faced a dragon before, which combined with the familiar terror of impending death.

 _(A/N: Check out_ _ **Trapped in the world of Final Fantasy 8**_ _where exactly that happens to Mark (me) in chapter 1 – sadly I'm locked out of that old FF account, but there's 14K of villain MC content for you to enjoy.)_

" **Cast: Asag's Toxin!"** Mark chanted, gesturing with his metal and leather encased fist. Its powerful rotting and poison damage would let Mark eventually kill it. Given the circumstances, he couldn't charge it up as much as he did in the battle with the Black Mage golem, the same battle that near-crippled the use of his arms.

The swirling black and purple orb of magic, which hovered inches above his gauntlet, fired towards the dragon like a bullet. However, despite its massive size, it change direction mid-air with such a shockingly fast reaction, it could be compared to the ridiculous Omni-directional movements of a fly. The spell missed by a wide margin.

The Grand Dragon growled angrily, its magical senses telling it how dangerous the poison spell modelled after a demon of pestilence was. Mark cursed under his breath, as except for perhaps Hypnos, none of his spells were going to land if it could react this fast.

 **HP:** 1786 / 2126

 **MP:** 893 / 999

The dragon had been frightened by the spell, and in turn adjusted its mind-set, this was no longer a hunt, the human was a threat, so it would afford the armoured human all the respect and violence that it would another dragon, as far as it was concerned now, its territory was being encroached upon, and it would provide the appropriate force.

Another fire attack was charged, this time a fireball.

Mark cast another barrier, and another, and another, stacking them.

* * *

' _ **Announcement: Magical Barrier level 2 (60MP) and level 3 (90MP) have now been created.'**_

* * *

The three spells combined into a large and thicker barrier, with far more detailed magic diagrams glowing across its surface. 'Alright, it worked!' Mark though jubilantly, as the powerful magic barrier stopped the dragon fire completely.

 **HP:** 1746 / 2126

 **MP:** 803 / 999

"Y-You stopped that?" Zidane remarked, stunned, having been certain of their impending death.

"Yeah, somehow…" Mark replied, while beginning to channel a Bio spell as the torrent of flames began to clear.

 _However…_

 **!**

A magic barrier only blocks spells, purely physical attacks are another matter.

The dragon's head smashed through the defensive spell, having used the flames as cover, its maw was closed, forehead ridge front and forward to charge. Mark threw Zidane to the side, while drawing his Icebrand, the large sword collided with the Dragon's head-butt, the sword barely cut into the scales, and was swiftly pressed back into Mark's Pluto armour.

Mark's feet left the ground, he didn't even attempt to stop the several of tonnes of force that would otherwise have hit him, relaxing his muscles and not grounding himself to try and survive the hit. As a result he was sent flying like a rocket, much in the same way as a boxer would twist his neck, and relax his upper body to absorb a strong hit to the face.

 **HP:** 1118 / 2126

 **MP:** 803 / 999

Mark had learnt his lesson with the Black Mage, he'd never be able to use his arms the same way again after that fight, though upgrading to Grey Mage had boosted his stats enough to compensate, it didn't change he was practically crippled. Additionally the dragon had significantly more physical power than the modified super soldier, so he needed to be careful. The game hadn't even started yet.

'I can't let Zidane die!' Mark thought, while creating a physical barrier behind him, manipulating it with his mana to soften it, it still hurt when he smashed into it, but it was better than being crushed against the mountainous terrain beneath Lindblum. 'Zidane is the protagonist, he cannot die here,' Mark thought while sliding down the barrier, feeling his neck and back spasming.

An open fang filled maw greeted him, ready to rend him in two, Mark jammed his sword into the dragon's lower jaw, it shrieked, the dragon killer skill doubling the damage, but even so, it continued to force its head forward until they were pressed against the rock face, but unable to properly bite into him. Fire then began to gather in the back of the dragon's throat. Mark's plan to use poison wouldn't work if it was evaporated by the flames first; and neither did he have the strength to force a dragon back, or the time to wiggle free. So he took a chance, confidence emboldened by the recent success with making a stronger magic shield.

"Cast: Stop!" he chanted, pouring three, and then five times as much MP before he felt the spell shift, and the world seemed to distort and turn grey, the dragon's movements frozen completely.

* * *

" _ **Announcement: Frozen Time – level 1 (40MP) has been created."**_

* * *

'It worked?' Mark thought stunned, even so, his body reacted immediately, desperate to survive, he ripped the sword out of the Dragon's mouth, and wiggled out of its massive fangs, and just in time, as the flames burst forth, burning an indent in the rock-face, if he had been any slower… it didn't bear thinking about. The Grand Dragon tried using a Thundara spell, but was disorientated from its fire breath blowing back against the rock face, and missed without Mark having to use a defensive spell.

 **HP:** 1014 / 2126

 **MP:** 763 / 999

'Stop is still a better spell if it hits, Time Freeze stopped things for so little time with how much MP it used,' thought Mark as he pointed his sword towards the dragon's neck for a upper-stance thrust. 'However it affected the immediate surroundings and any in-progress attacks, this'll have its uses.' Mark then kicked the ground so hard that it left indents in the ground, as well as a nasty recoil to his knees, but the magic sword stabbed deep into the dragon's neck thanks to the momentum, along with the dragon slaying ability.

Even so, it was a small wound compared to the dragon's size so it wouldn't be fatal. Never the less it shrieked in agony, and tried to shake him loose, but Mark was ready, and cast Asag's Toxin into the wound before it could shake him free. The wound turned black and rotten and the gigantic monster began to thrash about. Ironically this would have crushed Mark, but Zidane with an impressive show of speed, and a hint to his future abilities, tackled the much larger man to safety.

 **HP:** 1010 / 2126

 **MP:** 723 / 999

"Thanks, kid."

"No problem, you saved my life first," Zidane replied, flushing in embarrassment, likely recalling how they had first met, and to be saved by someone who he had taken a knife to less than an hour prior.

"You're too important to let die," Mark said thoughtlessly, as he watched the continuously thrashing dragon nearby, its actions gradually becoming weaker. The poison spell he had modelled after Dingir's demonic rival Asag was absurdly powerful and he now knew he could change the nature of a spell or simply buff it by multiplying the MP consumption to raise the spells level. 'How high can I raise the level for a spell?' Mark mused as the dragon finally died and the experience points immediately made him level up. Potentially he could use up all of his MP on a single spell, and when he could get those ethers that restored all of one's MP in one go in bulk, he could potentially take on the strongest monsters… if he could avoid their attacks.

"What do you mean by that?" Zidane asked, dumbfounded. He could tell Mark wasn't gay and coming onto him, as a good looking teenager living in the theatre district, Zidane was familiar with that kind of attention. But neither was the armoured man a friend or even an acquaintance. So him going out of his way to save him from those low-lives, and then risk death against a dragon was absurd.

'Ah crap!' Mark internally cursed. He couldn't tell Zidane the truth, but a little truth mixed in with a little creative lying might work.

"Well?"

"That was a slip-up on my part, but I suppose I can tell you a little." Mark stood back up, dusting off his armour, inwardly wincing at several large fang marks on the torso and legs. The Queen would probably give him crap for this; he had seen the sexual-sadism in her eyes when he had been whipped for misbehaviour on their way here. Mark wouldn't be surprised if the wounds re-opened again after that fight…another problem to worry about. Brahne could have him killed just to improve her mood, let alone the armour. Fortunately the cuts were fairly thin, if he polished his armour enough, he might get away with it. Fortunately the other Pluto Knights were rather slovenly, which helped.

"In answer to your question, I have a use for you and your associates. Many months from now, you will be hired on an important mission to Alexandria by your king. You in particular will be essential to that plan, so having you die now would be an issue for me, as for why I was tailing you before; I was simply scoping a future prospect."

"You're an Alexandrian right?" Zidane pressed. "So why would you know what King Cid is planning months before he tells us?"

"I have many contacts," Mark lied casually. "And as my goals do not align with the Queen's at this time, I'll be lending your King Cid a little aid. Regarding the nature of that mission, it will be an escort mission, however the who, how, and why is none of your business until Baku gets the order. Since I saved your life, I will have you keep quiet about it or the Queen will kill me."

Zidane nodded begrudgingly, not liking it, but the bleak seriousness of the armoured man showed how serous he was, and how very different Queen Brahne must be as a ruler when compared to the benevolent King Cid. "Okay."

"Thank you."

"Alright, let's head back to the city, I've guard duty for the princess soon."

"So you're actually a knight?" Zidane asked as they entered the tunnel the kidnappers had used.

"I would think the armour was obvious, I don't wear this heavy crap as a fashion statement, you know?"

"Can all knights use magic?"

"Heck no, most just mess around with a sword unless they get a magic one which can teach them sword art skills, I'm a Grey Mage as well, so I'm awesome."

"What's a grey mage?"

"Status and imbuing magic, like the people who make potions and magic items."

"Never heard of it."

"I'm not surprised, but don't stunt your knowledge to what you need to be in a thieving gang. You never know when something could be used to your advantage. Oh and get stronger, you're way too weak, and you've got all these monsters outside the city to level up, but avoid the dragons."

An angry vein twitched on the future protagonist's temple. However Zidane knew the knight was right, without the knight's intervention, he'd be dead. "What was your name again?"

"It's Mark."

Several minutes of silence passed as they moved higher up the dark, narrow path to the city.

"So… you mentioned a princess, is she hot?"

"Here we go…" Mark sighed; Zidane was a terrible flirt in the game, it seemed that was true even now.

"What?"

"I can't answer that, she's a year younger than you, it's not appropriate for me to say if she's hot or not."

"Of course I get the one prude in this city," Zidane sighed.

"Not a prude, she's just too young for me to be passing those sorts of comments." Mark retorted with mild irritation, recalling accusations of that damnable dressmaker. 'I hate medieval standards, why am I the weird one for liking women my own age?' Not that he never dated younger women, but they at least had to have grown past having 'teen' in their age.

Zidane didn't get what Mark meant, it wasn't uncommon for commoners and nobles to get married at his age, or marry someone a generation older, though merchants tended to wait until later, not having the advantage of an arranged marriage, maybe it was the same with knights. "Is it because she's your boss, or the status difference?" he asked.

Zidane didn't realise how close he was to being punched by the much stronger man.

"Fine, she's very cute, she'll be a real beauty when she grows up." Mark conceded, unwilling to have that conversation any longer, but rephrasing it so he didn't feel like a creep. He had long since given up trying to explain Earth standards to a fantasy world centuries behind his own. At least Alexandrians didn't let you marry until you were sixteen, most other countries here were way worse. Seeing Grandmothers that were his own age was a real mind-fuck, he wasn't young as such, but he was still in his physical prime for the most part, and far from being middle-aged, let alone old.

"Was that so hard?" Zidane grinned.

A loud smack echoed in the smuggler's tunnel.

"Ow!"

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 **Next Chapter:** The lowly knight is secretly a rich merchant

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Sorry for the wait. You won't be waiting six months for the next one._

* * *

 **(End of chapter)**

 **DINGIR AVATAR STATS**

 **Character class:** Grey Mage

 **Rank:** Pluto Knight X _(Private)_

 **Level:** 21, 19030 _xp until next level up_.

 **HP:** 1010 / 2551

 **MP:** 723 / 999 ( _maxed_ )

 **Strength:** 63 (99)

 **Speed:** 39 (35)

 **Spirit:** 55 (59)

 **Magic Defence/Defence:** 48 (79)

 **Magic:** 94

 **Magic Evasion/Evasion:** 34 (53)

 **Primary Weapon:** Ice Brand (freeze add-on)

 **Secondary Weapon:** Mythril Dagger

 **Weapons available to switch out:** Iron Sword, Goblin Dagger, Javelin, Pinwheels x20

 **Headwear:** Iron Helm + Headgear

 **Armour:** Iron Armour + Chain Plate

 **Accessory:** Steel Gauntlet with buckler + Leather Wrist

 **Skills:** Minus Strike, Mental Break

 **Abilities:** _Bright Eyes, Level Up,_ _Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit, Dragon Killer, Devil Killer, Undead Killer, Beast Killer_

 **Magic:** Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan

 **Magic Stacking:** Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1/2/3 (30/60/90MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP) Frozen Time – level 1 (40MP)

 **Trance:** Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni, Balmung Blaster

 **Items:** 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

 **Gil:** 17296

* * *

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback. (Some in Hardback)_

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Comic:** School Wars

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Vampire Attack:** Shadow Force _(Now finally out on lulu and amazon stores.)_

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **Corpses 'N' Things**

 **Monsters 'N' Things**

 **Vampires 'N' Things**


End file.
